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IllulIlPIf W'tfHlil HhIIUUIH II 1 1 





Class 

Book 

Copyright^ .. 



CSEffilGRT DEPOSIT 



THE FUTURE LIFE 



THE FUTURE LIFE 

ACCORDING TO THE 

AUTHORITY OF DIVINE REVELATION 
THE DICTATES OF SOUND REASON 
THE GENERAL CONSENT OF MANKIND 



BY 



REV. JOSEPH C. SASIA, S.J 




New York, Cincinnati, Chicago 

BENZIGER BROTHERS 

PRINTERS TO THE I PUBLISHERS OF 

HOLT APOSTOLIC SEE | BENZTGER'S MAGAZINF 

1918 



y ^ 



3m;trtmi Jnlrst. 

RICHARD A. GLEASON, S.J., 

Praep. Prov. Califomiae. 



Ntyil <£bntaL 

ARTHUR J. SCANLAN, S.T.D., 

Censor Librorum. 



ImprwxBtax. 

•J. JOHN CARDINAL FARLEY, 

Archbishop of New York. 



New York, January 14, 1918. 



MAR 27 1918 



COPTBIGHT, 1918, BY BESZI3EB BROTHERS. 

A494331 



TO 

THE MOST REVEREND 

EDWARD JOSEPH HANNA, D.D., 

Archbishop of San Francisco, 

who 

in his exalted position 

by his brilliant eloquence, 

enlightened zeal, 

and deep religious earnestness, 

moves every portion of his flock 

to realize the existence 

of the unseen, spiritual world, 

and to secure its untold treasures, 

THIS BOOlK ON THE FUTURE LIFE 

IS 
WITH HIS GRACIOUS PERMISSION 
RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 
BY THE AUTHOR. 



PREFACE 

1. This work is the fruit of several years' patient research and 
strenuous labor. The views expressed in it are the result of 
convictions begotten by Faith, strengthened by reason and con- 
firmed by human testimony; hence its title, "The Future Life, 
According to the Authority of Divine Revelation, the Dictates of 
Sound Reason and the General Consent of Mankind. ' ' 

2. It is our purpose to make our readers realize more and more 
vividly the great truth that there are studies higher than those 
of external nature; that there are investigations nobler than 
those of the composition of the stars and the geological depths of 
the earth ; that there are open to men studies more inspiring than 
mining, railroading, wireless telegraphy, and aerial navigation; 
in short, that men are capable of and fitted for activities infi- 
nitely more advantageous than the mad rush for the mammon of 
iniquity, and merely earthly goods. In Christianity we possess 
a philosophy of life, and the chief purpose of this work is to set 
forth some of the fundamental points of that philosophy. Our 
pages are intended to remind the reader that he has a soul 
destined by its Maker to flourish in immortal youth amidst the 
war of elements, the wreck of matter, and the crash of worlds. 
The prevailing scientific thought of the day is almost exclusively 
concerned with man 's body, how to provide for its comforts, how 
to solve the problem of its material subsistence and well-being: 
a problem, which, if carried to excessive limits, unfits the mind 
for the study and contemplation of the spiritual, dims the clear 
vision of life 's ultimate purpose, and gradually saps the founda- 
tions of men's practical belief in the realities of the unseen 
world, in comparison with which the world of science, literature, 
commerce, politics, and all besides is but the vanity of vanities. 

3. We foresaw that the publication of this book in this twen- 
tieth century would expose us to the sarcasms, criticisms, and 
ridicule of men accustomed to condemn and denounce anything 
likely to disturb their conscience and upset their cherished 
views diametrically opposed to the doctrines advocated in this 
volume. The editor of a San Francisco daily who sacrilegiously 
designated the ten commandments, the law of Sinai, as ' ' the first 
freak legislation," is not likely to spare us when he will read 
in our pages the defense of that divine law, and will see de- 
scribed and upheld the awful consequences, which its transgres- 
sion entails here and hereafter. As Mr. Oxenham rightly 
observes, in his "Catholic Eschatology, " (Preface, First Edi- 
tion), "It is currently asserted that the doctrine of eternal pun- 

7 



8 Preface 

ishment, and indeed of future retribution altogether, is peculiarly 
repugnant to the spirit of the age, and that the result of pro- 
claiming it is to repel many intellectual minds from Chris- 
tianity. ' ' 

4. Now if such objectors mean to imply that the doctrine 
should be withheld from publicity because it is not true, this 
alone would indeed be a conclusive reason against teaching it at 
all, whatever might be its salutary effects. In that case we 
should deem it a crime to follow the advice of a certain Anglican 
minister, Dr. Thomas Burnett, chaplain to William III. He 
maintained the grossly erroneous theory, that, "the doctrine of 
eternal punishment is indeed untrue, but it ought nevertheless 
to be preached." Here the real question at issue is whether 
the doctrine be revealed in Holy Scripture or not. If it is not 
revealed, then the question is at an end. If it is revealed, then 
we must accept it, or reject altogether with it all divine truth, 
and the revelation which discloses it. All middle courses are 
equivocal, evasive, and unworthy of any rational being. If a 
revelation be of any value, it is because it teaches the truth, and 
it ceases to be a revelation to us the moment we think ourselves 
at liberty to choose or reject any part of it, as we like. Indeed, 
a revelation which contains nothing but matter for doubt and 
conjecture, the terms of which are so vague and ambiguous that 
they may be explained by probabilities, which may be counter- 
balanced by opinions equally probable, is indeed little better than 
no revelation at all. Though the author generally refrains from 
controversy with adherents to Protestant denominations in 
deference to the advice of experienced friends, yet, as in duty 
bound, he admits no compromise whenever Catholic principles 
and doctrines are at stake, 

5. The question then for us is, has Almighty God revealed the 
doctrine of a future retribution? Of everlasting reward to the 
just, and of eternal punishment to the wicked? To this query 
we give an emphatically affirmative answer. It is plain that we 
are now assuming what will be proved in the sequel. It is a 
question here of a truth clearly contained in the deposit of di- 
vine revelation, in the sacred pages of both Testaments and par- 
ticularly in the emphatic announcement of Jesus Christ Himself. 

6. If we except downright atheists and materialists, no opposi- 
tion is made by any writer to the belief in the endless happiness 
promised to the just. 

All difficulties and attacks on the part of our adversaries 
are directed against the dogma of the endless punishment of the 
wicked. As to this the question arises, namely, whether by a 
sort of a spurious Disciplina Arcani, we are to withhold that 
doctrine, though true, from the faithful and the world at large, 
lest those, to whom it appears a hard saying, should turn away 
from Christ and His Church. What Christ said to His disciples 



Preface 9 

in Capharnaum, His ministers are authorized to repeat now. 
"Will you also go away? And Simon Peter answered Him: 
Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal 
life." (John vi. 68, 69.) When it is once known that God has 
spoken, our duty is simply to deliver His message to men, and 
there our responsibility ends, though that message, duly au- 
thenticated, be rejected by them. Undeterred by any hostile 
attitude we resolved to go bravely on, encouraged by the thought 
that we are writing for the honest seekers after truth, of whom 
many, thank God, are to be found in every rank, condition, trade, 
and profession of our American people, and the English people 
at large. 

7. Fully endorsing the sentiments of the distinguished writer, 
Father Eobert Kane, S. J., in his preface to "God or Chaos," I 
freely admit that my emphatic and unhesitating way of speak- 
ing does not come from any overweening trust in my own intel- 
lectual powers, but from an absolute conviction of the truth, to 
which I owe and render a frank and fearless allegiance. With 
the thorough consciousness, which I have, of the stern reality and 
justice of my cause, it is scarcely possible that I should not speak 
like a soldier in the battlefield, whose sword is unsheathed, and 
who knows that the victory is on his side. 

8. Of course, I can lay no claim to originality in a work of 
this kind, which deals chiefly with the immutable truths of di- 
vinely revealed faith. 

Our only merit, if this much may be allowed, is that of hav- 
ing gleaned from the vast fields of Catholic philosophy and 
theology, and from the pages of history what seemed to us the 
best arguments, and the most convincing testimonies available 
for our purpose. In other words, our effort has been to place 
within the reach of our readers the hidden treasures of the past 
with a view to strengthen their faith, and equip them with such 
weapons of defense as will render them victorious against the 
sophisms and deceits of the unbelievers of our times. To all hu- 
man aberrations on future life we oppose the knowledge given 
us by our holy religion. Here everything concurs to assure us of 
the truth : the Teacher, who is Divine, the Son of the living God ; 
the doctrine, a heavenly one, His Gospel, the wisest and purest 
that shall ever be preached ; the school, the most perfect that is 
possible for men to frequent, Christianity, which He founded 
to transform the inhabitants of earth into citizens of heaven. 

9. We are fully aware of the fact that some people, coming 
across this work, accidentally or otherwise, and seeing from the 
table of contents that a considerable space is devoted to the puni- 
tive sanction of God's holy laws, the eternal prison of hell with 
all its horrors, will feel angry with us, and close the book in dis- 
gust, never to open it as:ain. By so doin£ they act like a judge 
who should condemn the person accused before hearing what 



10 Preface 

he has to say in his defense, and thus reject an additional op- 
portunity of reaching the truth. No sensible man will approve 
of such conduct; and their conscience, whose rebuke they can- 
not stifle, will often chide them for their cowardice and bad faith. 

10. Our purpose is to reach the multitude of earnest, sober 
thinkers, who are seeking the truth, and are honest and coura- 
geous enough to embrace it when found. In the many years of 
our ministerial public life we had occasion to meet quite a num- 
ber of men and women of no mean culture, who, when approached 
on the vexatious question of future life, would give utterance to 
such expressions as these : 

11. "You do well to uphold that view; it has a beneficial, 
soothing influence on the masses. But, to tell you the plain 
truth, there is nothing in it. Death ends it all. ' ' They will not 
censure us for believing; just the opposite. Oh, no! They 
feign rather to envy our happiness. They only wish they could 
believe, as we do. It would be such a luxury, such a consola- 
tion. But they tell us, they cannot. In fact they are too wide 
awake. "When we look," they inform us with an air of au- 
thority, "at future life from the point of view of modern scien- 
tific progress, the arguments alleged fail to convince us. The 
fact is that the existence of a future world and its allied scheme 
of forthcoming retribution may be a pious belief for the uncul- 
tured of our age, as it was for the simple folks of the dark 
Middle Ages, but it cannot survive the searching analysis of our 
twentieth century progress." 

12. On one occasion, when a prominent physician of a western 
city delivered himself in the above fashion, I said to him : ' ' Doc- 
tor, your view startles me. I have been taught for more than 
fifty years the exactly opposite doctrine, and I firmly believe it 
to be true. Please sit down and let us talk this matter over; 
and if I have been deceived, you will enlighten me." Any of 
our readers, familiar with such characters, will easily surmise 
the answer. ' ' I beg your pardon, ' ' he said, looking at his watch, 
"in a few minutes I am due in my office down-town. We may 
discuss this subject at some future time." This is a very old 
procedure of unbelievers, which reminds us of what happened to 
St. Paul nearly twenty centuries ago, when addressing a group 
of sages at the Areopagus in Athens, he was told: "We will 
hear thee again concerning this matter. ' ' x He had talked to 
them of a phase of future life — the resurrection of the dead. 
That future time has yet to come, though I met that doctor on 
several occasions since. It is precisely this incident that sug- 
gested to me the present work. Hence from that day such 
spare moments as my manifold duties left to me were employed 
in the accumulation of material. This, in the course of time, 
reached a considerable size, as it contained upward of a hun- 

i Acts xvii. 32. 



Preface 11 

dred volumes treating of both sides of the question I have 
undertaken to discuss. See Bibliography at the end of the 
book. 

13. When individuals of this stamp coolly tell us that belief in 
a life and retribution to come is not in keeping with the progress 
and spirit of our age, our answer is, a truth, which has on its 
side the infallible testimony of divine revelation, the approval 
of human reason and the general consent of mankind can safely 
challenge the learning of the present highly cultured generation 
without fear of being silenced and refuted. From our impreg- 
nable position no modern scientist, however clever he may be, 
can dislodge us. For, as it will be seen in the course of our 
discussion, besides establishing the truth of our doctrine on an 
immovable foundation, we answer all the chief objections and 
difficulties of our opponents, and invite them to refute the argu- 
ments on which Christian Faith rests : a feat which, as we know 
from the record of the past, the enemies of Christianity have 
never been able to accomplish, though they did not fail to grapple 
with the mighty problem. In the matter of acknowledgment, 
it is but fair and just to remark that most of our knowledge and 
habits of thought are derived from other writers ' works, perused 
in the flight of years; hence in many cases it is practically im- 
possible to trace the special points of our indebtedness to par- 
ticular authors, though to them may be due a large share of our 
mental equipment. 

14. But we must, as a matter of justice and gratitude, espe- 
cially acknowledge our indebtedness to the following authors : 

Theologians: St. Thomas; Bellarmine, Card., S. J.; Billot, 
Card., S. J. ; Jungmann ; Knoll ; Lessius, S. J. ; Mazzella, Card., 
S. J. ; Palmieri, S. J. : Passaglia ; Perrone, S. J. ; Patuzzi, 0. P. ; 
T. Pesch, S. J. ; S. Schiffini, S. J. 

Philosophers: Bergier; Cathrein, S. J.; Maher, S. J.; 
Jaugey ; Liberatore, S. J. ; Tongiorgi, S. J. ; Urraburu, S. J. 

Preachers and Essayists : Balmes ; Bougaud ; O. Brownson ; 
Felix, S. J. ; Janvier, 0. P. ; Lacordaire, 0. P. ; Monsabre, O. P. ; 
Montalembert ; Nicolas; Schneider, Bishop; Vaughan, John, 
Bishop. 

Catholic Publications : American Quarterly Review, Amer- 
ican Ecclesiastical Review, Civilta Cattolica, The Fortnightly 
Review, The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, The Month, The Cath- 
olic World, Studies, America. 

Non-Catholic Writers: Dean Goulburn, Rev. Dr. Pusey, 
Rev. W. Reid, Hyslop, Thompson. 

Ours being a critical age, to satisfy even the most exacting in- 
quirer, we made it a point to verify every quotation, omitting 
important passages cited by others whenever we could not trace 
the cited words to an authentic source. 

15. Aware of our deficiencies in the treatment of this mo- 



12 Preface 

mentous theme, we make our own the considerate words of Mr. 
Oxenham: "That there is much reason for apology for the 
imperfect discharge of a task of such grave responsibility, no one 
can feel more keenly than myself. But I had rather say some- 
thing to the purpose, though it might have been much better said 
by others, than remain silent in the face of an acknowledged and 
pressing danger." 

16. We fully realize the fact that many books have been writ- 
ten in different languages on the subject of our work, though 
few, if any, cover precisely the same ground. Hence we may 
justly apply to our volume the words of L. Annaeus Seneca, the 
renowned Roman sage : 

"There still remains, and there shall always remain much to 
be done; neither shall be wanting to any mortal, after a thou- 
sand years, the opportunity of saying something more. And 
although all that we write has already been discussed by those 
that preceded us, yet this much shall be something new, the use 
and orderly arrangement of the things treated by others." 

In spite of the old complaint of more than three thousand 
years ago, "Of making many books there is no end" 2 I thought 
that an additional one might not be altogether useless for the 
reasons given above by the Roman writer. 

17. It would seem that in our days, when not merely thousands 
but millions of souls are summoned out of this world, and con- 
siderably increase the average mortality of the human race, a 
work on the Future Life is quite timely, since it treats of the 
destiny that awaits each one of the departed on the shores of 
eternity. Whilst the flower of European youth and manhood 
is mercilessly mowed down in the battlefield or sunk in the 
watery deep, and numberless graves are opened to receive their 
shattered mortal remains, their souls are ushered before the 
dread tribunal of the Supreme Judge of mankind and allotted by 
His just and irrevocable sentence to a place either of salvation or 
of damnation according to their good or evil deeds and the final 
disposition, with which they departed from this life. The spec- 
tacle of worldwide combats, unique in the melancholy history of 
man since his appearance on the face of the earth, cannot but 
beget in the fortunate survivors serious thoughts, and spur 
them to a diligent, conscientious perusal of a book intended to 
lay before its readers an authoritative exposition of the high 
destiny which an all wise and merciful Creator has assigned to 
every human being born into this world, the arena in which man, 
by a brave, successful and persevering combat against sin, aided 
by God's all powerful grace, can secure to himself a most happy 
home in the everlasting abode of angels and saints, the abode 
of unruffled peace, whence war and strife are forever banished. 

Among the many millions of souls, who have departed from 
2 Ecclesiastes xii. 12. 



Preface 13 

this life in the faith, fear and love of Christ their Saviour, there 
must, doubtless, be numbers who owe their first serious thoughts, 
under God, to the agency of a wholesome and timely realization 
of their accountability to God's judgment, and of the retribution 
either of happiness or of woe awaiting every mortal on the shores 
of eternity. Would that such earnest, noble-minded souls were 
multiplied a thousandfold! Alas! — it is the obstinate aversion 
to that which contravenes men's wrong notions of the divine 
offense; it is the determination to explain away the plainest 
and most emphatic words of Holy Scripture that constitutes their 
real danger. If by reproducing the clearest language of Holy 
Writ on both the remunerative and punitive sanction furnished 
by God's infinite wisdom, goodness, and justice, we should arouse 
any of our readers to a sense of their peril, and lead them on to 
an earnest solicitude for their soul 's salvation ; if thus we should 
be instrumental in saving even only one soul from ruin, and 
should be so happy as to meet that soul safe among the blessed, 
what triumph of this earth could bear the most distant com- 
parison with such a victory over hell, sin, and Satan ? And what 
gratitude for any kindness here below could be like the deep 
gratitude of that soul toward one who had been, in God's provi- 
dence, a partial help in winning for it eternal bliss? Our hope 
for so happy a consummation rests on the following guarantee 
of divine truth : ' ' He who causeth a sinner to be converted from 
the error of his way, shall save his soul from death, and shall 
cover a multitude of sins. ' ' 3 

18. If any person rising from the perusal of these pages should 
find himself impressed with a deeper and more reverential fear 
and love of God; with a stronger faith and firmer trust in the 
redeeming blood of Jesus Christ, and with a nobler conception of 
his present and future destiny, we shall have reason to rejoice 
at the thought that our labors have been amply recompensed. 

May the Lord in His infinite goodness grant to ourselves, and 
to many souls benefited by our humble efforts, the grace of meet- 
ing together in the mansions of endless bliss. 

Here we transcribe and fully endorse the words of Doctor H. 
N. Oxenham at the conclusion of the preface to the first edition 
of his "Catholic Eschatology. " "While I trust that nothing 
will be found in these pages inconsistent with Catholic teaching, 
I need hardly say that what I have written on this solemn sub- 
ject is unreservedly submitted to the infallible authority of the 
Catholic Church. It is a relief to turn from the din of contro- 
versy and the dreary skepticism of our age, to the simple (yet 
most rational) faith, which alone can brace the soul for its life- 
long struggle with temptation, and shed over the dark valley of 
the shadow of death a shining light, which brightens continually 
towards perfect day. In the midst of the resuscitated Paganism 

3 James v. 20. 



14 Preface 

of our times in thought, in sentiment, and in language, which 
is coming in upon us like a flood, the words of the holy Prophet 
Job float back upon the memory, like the refrain of some favorite 
song, familiar from childhood, but which can never grow less 
musical by repetition: 'For I know that my Redeemer liveth, 
and in the last day I shall rise out of the earth. And I shall be 
clothed again with my skin, and in my flesh I shall see my God ; 
whom I myself shall see, and my eyes shall behold and not an- 
other : this my hope is laid up in my bosom. ' " 4 

* Job xix. 25, 26, 27. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Dedication iv 

Preface . 7 

Introduction. The Religious Problem in Human Life . . 25 

PART I 
THE END OF MAN 

CHAPTER I 
The True End of Man 43 

CHAPTER II 
In what the True End of Man Consists 45 

CHAPTER III 

How do Irrational Creatures Glorify God and Assist Man 
in Fulfilling that Noble Task? 48 

CHAPTER IV 
Man's Craving for Happiness 53 

CHAPTER V 
God Destined Man to Perfect Happiness 54 

CHAPTER VI 
No Created Good can Render Man Perfectly Happy . . 55 

CHAPTER VII 
Is it Possible to Obtain Perfect Happiness on Earth? . . 59 

CHAPTER VIII 
True, Perfect, Lasting Happiness is Obtained Only in the 
Better Life of the Future World 62 

CHAPTER IX 
The Chief Scope of Our Earthly Pilgrimage 67 

CHAPTER X 
The Right Way to Eternal Happiness 71 

CHAPTER XI 
The Doctrine of Divine Revelation on the Last, Supernatural 

End of Man 75 

15 



16 Contents 

CHAPTER XII PAGE 

The Only Impediment to Man 's Attainment of His Last End 78 

CHAPTER XIII 
The Paramount Value and Importance of Our Earthly Life 82 

PART II 

THE SANCTION OF GOD'S LAWS 

CHAPTER I 
What is Meant by the Term "Sanction"? . ..... 87 

CHAPTER II 
There Exists in the Present Life an Initial, Though Imper- 
fect, Sanction of the Divine Laws 90 

CHAPTER III 
The Sanction of the Present Life, Being Imperfect, is not 

Sufficient to Deter Men from Evil-doing 92 

CHAPTER IV 
The Perfect Sanction of God's Laws is Found Only in the 

Life to Come 94 

CHAPTER V 
Agreement of the Verdict of Reason Illumined by Faith with 
the Doctrine of Divine Revelation on the Necessity of 
an Endless Punitive Retribution 98 

PART III 
THE IMMORTALITY OF MAN'S SOUL 

CHAPTER I 
Preliminary Remarks 107 

CHAPTER II 

The Immortality of Man's Soul Proved from Reason . . 110 

CHAPTER III 

Illuminating Points of Doctrine, or Remarks Available for 
the Solution of Difficulties against the Soul's Immor- 
tality 129 

CHAPTER IV 
Answers to Several Objections 137 

CHAPTER V 

The Doctrine of Divine Revelation on the Immortality of the 

Human Soul 146 



Contents 17 

CHAPTER VI PAGE 
The Immortality of Man's Soul According to the Old Testa- 
ment 150 

CHAPTER VII 
The Immortality of Man 's Soul According to the New Testa- 
ment 153 

CHAPTER VIII 
The Immortality of the Human Soul Proved from the 

Authority of the Catholic Church 159 

CHAPTER IX 
The Symbols of Faith or Christian Creeds 160 

CHAPTER X 
Immortality or Eternal Life Proved from the Liturgy of 
the Catholic Church 161 

CHAPTER XI 
Belief of the Ancient Jewish People in the Immortality of 

the Human Soul 164 

CHAPTER XII 
The Question of the Jewish Belief in Immortality Discussed 

in the French Academy 167 

CHAPTER XIII 
Additional Evidences of the Jewish Belief in Immortality 168 

CHAPTER XIV 

The Belief of the Ancient Egyptians in the Immortality of 
the Human Soul, and in the Endless Duration of Future 
Retribution 171 

CHAPTER XV 
Religious Belief of Ancient Assyria and Babylon . . . 175 

CHAPTER XVI 
Religious Thoughts of the Ancient Persians, the Hindus, 

the Medes, the Chinese, the Japanese, and the Arabs . 177 

CHAPTER XVII 

The Immortality of Man's Soul Proved from the General 

Consent of Mankind 181 

CHAPTER XVIII 
Testimonies of Ancient Writers 184 

CHAPTER XIX 
Demonstration of the Value of the General Consent of the 

Human Race as an Evidence and Criterion of Truth . 186 



18 Contents 

CHAPTER XX PAGE 

Attitude of Modern Scientific Men Toward the Doctrine 

of Immortality and Future Retribution .... 190 

CHAPTER XXI 

The Roll of Honor 193 

Conclusion of Part Third 200 



PART IV 
THE REMUNERATIVE SANCTION 

CHAPTER I 
The Happiness of the Soul 203 

CHAPTER II 
What is Seen Through the Beatific Vision 206 

CHAPTER III 
The Beatitude of the Intellect 209 

CHAPTER IV 
The Beatitude of the Will 210 

CHAPTER V 

The Saints in Heaven, Though Perfectly Free, Will Never 

Commit Sin 216 

CHAPTER VI 
Can Heavenly Beatitude Ever be Lost? 219 

CHAPTER VII 
When Does the Happiness of the Soul of the Blessed Begin ? 220 

CHAPTER VIII 
Condition of the Blessed Soul After the Body 's Resurrection 223 

CHAPTER IX 
The Beatitude of the Body. The General Resurrection 

Foretold in the Old Testament 228 

CHAPTER X 

The General Resurrection Announced in the New Testament 232 

CHAPTER XI 
In What Will the Beatitude of the Body Chiefly Consist? . 233 

CHAPTER XII 
The Functions and Pleasures of the Glorified Senses . . . 236 



Contents 19 

CHAPTER XIII PAGE 

Additional Considerations on the Endowments or Qualities 

of the Risen Bodies of the Just 238 

CHAPTER XIV 

Harmony of this Dogma with the Promptings of Reason . 242 

CHAPTER XV 

Is the Natural Tendency for Reunion Compatible with the 

Miraculous Character of the Resurrection? .... 245 

CHAPTER XVI 
Does the Departed Soul Xaturallv Desire to be Reunited to 

the Body? 247 

CHAPTER XVII 
Does the Separated Soul Find Itself in a Violent, Restrain- 
ing State? 249 

CHAPTER XVIII 
The Various Degrees of Merit 250 

CHAPTER XIX 

Is the Degree of Heavenly Glory Affected by the Endurance 

of a Long Purgatory? 253 



PART V 

HOW ALMIGHTY GOD HELPS MAN TO REACH 
HIS LAST HAPPY END 

Note 257 

CHAPTER I 
The Benefits of Nature 257 

CHAPTER II 

The Benefits of Grace 260 

CHAPTER III 

The Promised Benefits of Glory 263 

CHAPTER IV 

The Infinite Merits of Christ and Their Application . . 265 

CHAPTER V 

The Catholic Doctrine of Christ's Atonement for the Sins 
of Men 267 



20 Contents 

CHAPTER VI 

What Should be a Man's Attitude Toward Divine Revela- 
tion? 

The Duty of a Man who Knows that Such a Revelation Ex- 
ists; and of Him who is Doubtful About It ... 271 

CHAPTER VII 
May a Man Ever Justify His Neglect of Divine Revelation? 273 

CHAPTER VIII 
Additional Explanations of the Catholic Doctrine on Human 
Liberty 275 

CHAPTER IX 

Action of God and Responsibility of Man in the Business of 
Salvation 279 

CHAPTER X 

i 
Calvin 's Hideous Teachings on Predestination as Contrasted 
with the Catholic Doctrine on the Same Subject . . 286 

ii 
On the Future State or Condition of Children Who Die 
without Receiving Holy Baptism 289 

CHAPTER XI 
What is the Penalty of Original Sin in the Future World? . 289 

CHAPTER XII 
No Human Creature May Lay Any Claim to Destination to 

the Supernatural State 294 

CHAPTER XIII 
Condition of Unbaptized Infants After the Final Resurrec- 
tion 296 

PART VI 

THE PUNITIVE SANCTION 

CHAPTER I 
How are Divinely Revealed Truths Demonstrated? . . . 301 

CHAPTER II 
Perfect Reliability of the Testimony of Christ .... 303 

CHAPTER III 

Why is There a Punitive Sanction of God's Laws, and by 

Whom is it Rejected? 305 



Contents 21 

CHAPTER IV page 

The Pain of Loss or the Forfeiture of Heavenly Happiness . 310 

CHAPTER V 
The Pain of Sense— Fire Hell's Chief Torment .... 312 

CHAPTER VI 
Additional Infernal Pains According to Holy Writ . . 320 

CHAPTER VII 
The Extremely Dangerous State of Certain Typical Char- 
acters 326 

CHAPTER VIII 
Practical Reflections 329 

CHAPTER IX 
The Punitive Sanction Taught by Divine Revelation is Con- 
firmed by Human Reason 331 

CHAPTER X 
Conscience a Witness to Future Retribution 334 

CHAPTER XI 
Ancient and Modern Testimonies on the Existence and Jus- 
tice of Punitive Sanction. Attitude of Old Sects 
Toward Belief in Future Retribution . . . . . 338 

A. Greek Writers 339 

B. Testimonies of Latin Authors 342 

C. Testimonies of Modern Writers 344 

CHAPTER XII 
Primitive Tradition and What it Accounts for .... 345 

PART VII 

THE ETERNITY OF HELL 

CHAPTER I 

Preliminary Observations 349 

CHAPTER II 
Scriptural Testimonies on the Eternity of Hell .... 353 

A. Old Testament 

B. New Testament 

CHAPTER III 

The Eternity of Hell According to the Dogmatic Decrees of 
the Catholic Church and Her Creeds, or Symbols of 

Faith 357 

What Church can Interpret, Without Fear of 
Error, the Truths of Divine Revelation . . . 357 



22 Contents 

CHAPTER IV PACE 

The Athanasian Creed and Pontifical Definitions . . . 359 

CHAPTER V 
Ecumenical Councils 361 

CHAPTER VI 

The Doctrine of the Eastern or Oriental Schismatic Churches 

on the Duration of Future Punishment 362 

CHAPTER VII 

The Testimony of the Greek and the Latin Fathers on the 

Eternity of Hell and its Torments ...... 364 

A. Preliminary Notions 364 

B. Quotations from the Writings of the Fathers . . 366 

CHAPTER VIII 
An Unbroken Chain of Witnesses to the Truth of Endless 

Future Retribution 373 

CHAPTER IX 
The Testimony of Christian Martyrs on the Truth of Ever- 
lasting Punishment 375 

Introductory Remarks 375 

CHAPTER X 
List of Martyrs and Record of Their Dying Words . . . 379 

CHAPTER XI 

Hell's Eternal Duration Asserted by Both Ancient and 
Modern Peoples, and by Both Heathen and Christian 
Writers 384 

Preliminary Note on Primitive Tradition 384 



PART VIII 

REMARKS OR PRINCIPLES INTENDED TO FACILI- 
TATE THE SOLUTION OF DIFFICULTIES 
AGAINST ETERNAL PUNISHMENT 

CHAPTER I 
Remarks I to V 395 

CHAPTER II 

Remarks VI to X 402 

CHAPTER III 
Remarks XI to XV 409 



Contents 23 

CHAPTER IV PAGE 

Remarks XVI to XX 415 

CHAPTER V 
Remarks XXI to XXV .426 

PART IX 

OBJECTIONS AGAINST ETERNAL PUNISHMENT 
AND THEIR SOLUTION 

CHAPTER I 
Preliminary Observations 435 

CHAPTER II 
A Dialogue : Its Reasons and Method 438 

CHAPTER III 
Difficulties I to VII 441 

CHAPTER IV 

Difficulties VIII and IX 453 

The Annihilation Theory Exposed and Refuted .... 453 

CHAPTER V 
Difficulties X to XIII 466 

CHAPTER VI 
Why Did Almighty God Decree to Create Man .Free . . . 476 
Difficulty XIV 476 

CHAPTER VII 
Difficulties XV to XX 478 

CHAPTER VIII 
Concluding Reflections . . . » 491 

PART X 

AFFIRMATIVE AND NEGATIVE TESTIMONIES OF 
PROTESTANT SECTS AND THEIR MINISTERS 
ON THE ETERNAL PUNITIVE RETRIBUTION 

CHAPTER I 

Belief of the Reformed Churches of the Sixteenth Century 

in the Eternity of Punitive Sanction 493 

CHAPTER II 
Modern Protestant Creeds on the Duration of Future Pun- 
ishment ,..........'.,.. 496 



24 Contents 

CHAPTER III PAGE 
The Christian Dogma of Everlasting Retribution Held and 
Defended by Ministers and Scholars of Protestant De- 
nominations 499 

CHAPTER IV 
Arguments of Protestant Divines and of Other Non-Catholic 
Writers Against Eternal Punishment Analyzed and Re- 
futed 513 

CHAPTER V 
Hell Abolished in Washington, D. C. by the Bible Students 
and Their Former President, the Late Pastor Russell . 534 

CHAPTER VI 

Present Attitude of Many Protestant and Other Non- 
Catholic Divines and Preachers Toward Future, End- 
less Retribution 536 



PART XI 

RETROSPECT AND BIBLIOGRAPHY 

CHAPTER I 
Introductory Remarks 541 

CHAPTER II 
Retrospect — A Synthetic Summary 542 

CHAPTER III 

Bibliography 

Preliminary Notice 545 

First Series. Latin Authors 546 

Second Series. Classical Greek Authors .... 546 

Third Series. French Authors 547 

Fourth Series. German Authors 547 

Fifth Series. Italian Authors and Reviews . . . 547 
Sixth Series. Spanish and Portuguese Authors . 548 
Seventh Series. Catholic English Authors and Re- 
views 548 

Eighth Series. Non-Catholic English Authors . . 549 
Alphabetical Index 554 



INTEODUCTION 
THE RELIGIOUS PROBLEM IN HUMAN LIFE 

There is no man appearing in this world, even if he be the vic- 
tim of religious indifferentism, to whose mind are not presented 
sooner or later the following inquiries : 

19. ' ' Is there indeed another life awaiting me after the present 
one ? Is there above a Supreme Judge who watches me, and to 
whom we are all to give an account of our doing here below? 
Are there rules or laws, according to which we are bidden to reg- 
ulate our moral conduct? And does there exist some kind of 
sanction devised for the enforcement of these laws ; that is, a sys- 
tem of rewards to their observers and of punishments to their 
transgressors in a life to come ? Why am I here ? Why did Al- 
mighty God bring me into existence ? What is the purpose of my 
life here below ? What am I to do in this world, and what shall 
be my irrevocable lot in the next ? ' ' 

20. These are indeed questions, the importance of which will 
not admit of comparison with any other. Science, literature, 
politics, art, commerce, all worldly interests fall into insignifi- 
cance, dwindle into nothing, when set side by side with the mo- 
mentous inquiry regarding man's destiny in the life to come. 
This paramount question confronts man at every turn. Whether 
believer or unbeliever, Christian or pagan, Catholic or Protestant, 
Jew or infidel, he must face it. It relentlessly pursues him 
through every stage of his earthly career. Its stern voice can 
neither be stifled by debauchery nor silenced by rebukes ; and no 
matter how in life man may have tried to evade, or ignore it, it 
watches and waits for him at the very brink of the grave, on the 
threshold of eternity, where as the shadows of this world dis- 
appear, he is at last constrained to put to himself the awful ques- 
tion: "Whither am I going and what shall be my future lot?" 

Hence no reasonable being, no thinking man will dare leave 
these weighty questions unanswered. The whole meaning of our 
life is contained in the solution of these questions. Life ques- 
tions are they and they must be honestly met by every one that 
claims to make a right use of his reason. 

21. Yes, first of all the question of our destiny must be faced 
and definitely settled, and that in a manner completely satisfac- 
tory to the claims of man's intellect, and to the aspirations of his 
heart. Till this is done, it is idle and nonsensical to tell men 
how they should regulate their conduct, how they should act. 

25 



26 Supreme Importance of the Religious 

How can we act, when we see no end worth acting for? How 
can we move forward, when we know not in what direction to 
advance? To fully realize the supreme importance of the re- 
ligious problem, that is the question of man's destiny here and 
hereafter, it is enough to reflect that its solution constitutes the 
very foundation of both the moral and the intellectual life of the 
human race, and of the well-being and happiness of each indi- 
vidual man. Indeed, every institution connected with social, 
moral, and religious life must be profoundly affected whether 
for good or ill by the affirmation or negation of a future life. 

22. In the first place, if the religious problem is solved in a 
positive or affirmative manner, then truth, justice, honesty, rights, 
and duties will bear a meaning totally different from that which 
would be attributed to the same notions and ideas if a negative 
solution were to be held as true. And other consequences would 
necessarily follow. For if, besides human courts of justice, no 
other tribunal need be feared in a life to come, men would shape 
their conduct in one way. Whilst if a future judge is to be 
feared, the actions of their life would be directed and governed 
by a quite different rule. In short, if a reward is held out in the 
next world to the observers of God's laws in this, then man shall 
so live as to merit the promised recompense. 

23. If on the contrary all ends with the grave, and no future 
existence of any kind is reserved, to man after death, then the 
present life will be for him nothing but a passing dream, each 
one trying to make the best of it, in a constant endeavor to shun 
all discomfort, and enjoy all the delights within his reach. The 
conduct of such as adhere to the negative view of the destiny of 
man is vividly portrayed in the Book of Wisdom (II. 1-8). 
"They have said, reasoning with themselves, but not right. The 
time of our life is short and tedious, and no man hath been 
known to have returned from hell. Let us crown ourselves with 
roses, before they be withered : Let no meadow escape our 
riot: etc." Similar musings are met with in Ecclesiastes. 1 It 
is plain then that the right solution of the problem we are deal- 
ing with is absolutely necessary for the guidance and control of 
the moral life of man. 

24. We must notice, moreover, that the character of his in- 
tellectual life depends in a great measure on the correct solution 
of the same mighty problem. That a man should master many 
languages, that he should be thoroughly versed in almost every 
branch of art, literature, and science is an excellent and very 
useful thing. But could such a man deem himself satisfied with 
the possession of such knowledge, if he were utterly to ignore 
the answer to such questions as these: "Whence do I come? 
Whither do I go? Why are there in the present life so many 
sorrows and so few joys? Is any one waiting for me at the 

i iii. 12, 19, 20, 21, 22. 



Problem in Human Life 27 

termination of my earthly career to demand an account of my 
doings and to apportion to me reward for virtue, or punishment 
for misdeeds ? ' ' Whoever neglects to ascertain the true solution 
of such problems cannot but become the victim of profound sad- 
ness and affliction, which border on black despair. 

25. Two comparatively recent authors of the negative school, 
more concerned with the continuance of life after death than 
with the necessity of ascertaining the character of such a life 
and of preparing themselves accordingly, gave utterance to their 
grief in the following distressing language: Huxley says — 
"I find my dislike of extinction increasing as I get older and 
nearer the goal. It flashes across me at all sorts of times with 
a sort of horror. I had sooner be in hell a good deal." Very 
much the same hopeless sentiment has been uttered by M. de 
Genoude : ' ' Some time I would say to myself that I preferred 
an eternal suffering to annihilation. ' ' Melancholy sentiments re- 
garding the future lot of the departed occur very frequently in 
the writings of the ancients. They are like a dark veil spread 
over their works of art, sculpture, and painting. Quite tender 
and touching are the words of Tacitus in the life of Agricola, his 
father-in-law. Ignoring what became of his departed soul, and 
thinking that it might still survive in some place or other, he 
thus affectionately addresses it : " If in another world there is 
a mansion for the just, if, as wise men have taught, the soul is 
not extinguished with the body, mayest thou rest in peace." 2 

26. Secondly, the right solution of the religious problem con- 
stitutes the foundation of the well-being and happiness of each 
individual. When we consider the religious problem as affect- 
ing the welfare and happiness of each individual, man or woman, 
we find that it assumes an importance to which there is no equal. 
In fact, from its different solutions depends this obvious, inevi- 
table result: namely, whether I must seek my paradise in this 
world or work for an infinitely better one in the next. If there 
is no other world to which the soul may repair after death, then 
we shall logically share the lot of those whose motto is "Let us 
eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die. ' ' 3 Such individuals 
— and alas ! there are legions of them — trying to persuade them- 
selves that all the happiness men can enjoy is to be found in the 
present life, exert every faculty and strain every nerve in their 
struggle after pleasure, which, if missed now, shall never be pos- 
sessed again. In this they are, at least, consistent, for if the 
existence of a future world is once denied, each man will en- 
deavor to get here all that he can, and when, and where, and 
how he can. 

27. But if, on the contrary, on the shores of eternity a judge 
awaits us, ready and able to reward or to punish us according to 
the good or evil deeds of our life, then we will recall the timely 

2 Agricola, 46. 3 Isaias xxii. 13. 



28 Supreme Importance of the Religious 

warning of St. Paul, and act accordingly. "Brethren, be not de- 
ceived, God is not mocked. For what things a man shall sow, 
those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the 
flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, 
of the spirit shall reap life everlasting." 4 Hence for each 
rational human creature the solution of the religious problem is 
the key to his happiness here and hereafter. 

28. From it man learns another most useful, nay, necessary, 
lesson : that is, whether he should, in the present life, look upon 
himself as a servant or as a master, whether he is an independent 
being or subject to the Supreme Creator that gave him existence, 
with all its consequent gifts, to whose service, honor, and glory 
he should direct all the activities of his present life. 

From the true solution of that momentous problem man will 
also learn that he lives not to rule, but to serve ; not to indulge his 
inordinate passions and cravings, but to curb, control, and subdue 
them. In short, he learns so to direct the actions of his re- 
sponsible life as to harmonize them with the will of his Maker. 

29. To emphasize the religious problem in yet stronger terms, 
we ask: Is there a destiny awaiting man beyond the grave, or 
must he utterly perish like the trees of the forest, the birds of the 
air, and the fish of the sea ? Is his existence, so ennobled by the 
lavish profusion of divine gifts, to be limited to the narrow hori- 
zon of the present life, or is it to be extended to the shoreless 
ocean of the eternal years? Though limited in his nature and 
finite in his faculties, man possesses nevertheless an intellect, 
whose capacity no earthly knowledge can fill : he possesses a heart, 
whose aspirations no temporal goods can fully gratify. What, 
then, shall be the perfect, boundless object of his knowledge, what 
immense good shall fill the cravings of his will? 

30. To answer these questions is to solve the problem of life. 
Let us see who can accomplish this mighty task. As politeness 
requires that we should give our first attention to strangers, let 
me ask: How do modern infidels and unbelievers meet these 
questions? How do they face these awful problems? The an- 
swer is not far for us to seek. Whilst they sneer and scoff at the 
teachings of Christian faith, whilst they ridicule and set aside 
divine revelation as a myth, as masters in Israel they profess 
to have something to say on those all important, absorbing ques- 
tions. By all means let us hear them. What have they to tell us 
on those vital points, on which our eternal welfare depends? 
What have they to say ? Will they unravel the mystery ? Will 
they solve the problem ? Hear their answer. 

31. In the words of one of their representative organs, an in- 
fidel journal, the Investigator of Boston, their answer is reduced 
to the following or similar terms : ' ' We expect that in the next 
world we shall have a more comprehensive view of the mysteries 

* Gal. vi. 7, 8. 



Problem in Human Life 29 

of this." As Goethe puts it, "We may well leave the next 
world to reveal itself to us in due time ; we shall be soon enough 
there, and know all about it." That is, when we are gone, dead 
and buried, when we shall find ourselves in the next world, then 
we shall learn how we ought to have behaved in this. Alas! 
What a pity that we cannot afford to wait ! Our time is precious, 
our days are few and fleeting, we are hurried on so rapidly that 
our destiny will be sealed forever, before the promised vision 
comes. 

32. But if infidel authors have no light to throw upon the 
gloom of the future, they have plenty of darkness by which to 
obstruct the light. Their system, if it may be so called, is not 
constructive ; its efficacy lies in destruction. Instead of building 
up, they are continually pulling down. If, by their own confes- 
sion, they cannot teach us anything concerning the future life, 
they strive to console us by the assurance that there is nothing 
to be learned. They cannot build, but they are eminently prac- 
tised in the art of undermining. They devote their talent, 
energy, and wealth to spread the curse of religious indifference 
and unbelief among their fellow-men, thus striving to rob them 
of the noble, elevating, cheering prospects held out by Christian 
faith, assured by Christian hope and realized by Christian love. 
This is exactly the thought tersely expressed by St. Augustine 
who thus wrote in his comment on the eleventh chapter of St. 
John's Gospel: "Christ, our divine Master and King, came 
upon earth to bring to the kingdom of heaven all that will be- 
lieve in His Gospel, trust in His promises, and make Him the 
center of their love" — "Ut in regnum coelorum credentes, spe- 
r antes, amantes, per ducat." These reflections cause me to re- 
member the following incident, that illustrates the disastrous 
effects of antichristian doctrines on the mind of common people. 

33. We are told that Robert Ingersoll, the notorious anti- 
christian lecturer, who, overtaken by a sudden death has since 
gone to his accounts, was one morning seated in a Washington 
City hotel, when a United States Senator coming in said : 

"Mr. Ingersoll, I saw a sad thing a moment ago. While a 
man was struggling across a crowded street on crutches, I saw 
another man strike the crutches away from him." 

Ingersoll arose with fingers twitching and eyes flashing, and 
he said: 

"I should like to find that man, and I would punish him." 
The Senator put his hand on Ingersoll 's shoulder and said : 
"You are the man. That is what you have been doing for 
years, striking away the crutches of people, removing the under- 
pinning of their Christian faith, their support in sorrow, and 
prospective consolations amidst the trials of life." 

34. With all the boasted progress of modern civilization, with 
all the giant strides of the human intellect in every sphere of 



30 Supreme Importance of the Religious 

secular knowledge, and in every field of scientific research, what, 
I ask, should we know with any degree of certainty, even in this 
twentieth century of ours, of our origin, of our supernatural 
destiny, of the purpose and meaning of our brief existence in this 
world, and of the eternity that awaits us beyond the tomb, what, 
I say, should we know of all these paramount questions, with- 
out the torch of heavenly faith, without light from above, which, 
like a beacon set on the mountain-top to guide the tempest-tossed 
mariner into the harbor of safety, dispels from the human mind 
the clouds of error and deception, and points out to men with 
unerring voice the path that leads them to eternal bliss. 

35. It was precisely to preserve the human mind from all dan- 
ger of error and deception in a matter that concerns our most 
vital interests both of time and of eternity, and determines the 
right direction of the actions of our responsible life, it was for 
this object, I say, that God Himself, with a providential care 
worthy of His infinite wisdom and goodness, has revealed to His 
intelligent creatures upon earth the true answer to that gravest 
of questions. As it will be shown in the first part of this work, 
man's present destiny is wholly supernatural; that is, above and 
beyond the exigencies and claims of mere nature, and therefore 
depending on the bounty and generosity of God 's free will. As 
such it cannot be known except from God Himself, who along 
with it revealed and established the supernatural means en- 
abling us to attain it. I say "supernatural means," advisedly, 
for as reason itself teaches us, the means must be proportionate 
to the end, which is wholly supernatural. 

36. Evidently divine revelation alone can solve the problem 
of life and explain the true meaning and purpose of our earthly 
existence ; but not a revelation, mind well, read by every man 's 
whim, and tampered with by every man 's private judgment, but 
a revelation interpreted and expounded by the unerring voice 
of the Church of Christ, the divinely appointed teacher of men, 
protected against all errors and deception by the divine assur- 
ance of Him who nearly twenty centuries ago, said to His 
Apostles: "I will ask the Father, and He shall give you an- 
other Paraclete, that He may abide with you forever. When He, 
the Spirit of truth, is come, He will teach you all truth. ' ' 5 
Hence, strengthened by the Holy Ghost, as did the first members 
of the teaching Church, so do their legitimate successors impart 
to human generations the full body or deposit of divine truth re- 
garding man's origin, his supernatural end, and the means by 
which to secure it. In listening to their voice, we submit to the 
voice of God Himself speaking to men through His Church; of 
that Church, I mean, who alone can produce before the world the 
credentials and testimonials of her heavenly mission, authoriz- 
ing her to teach in the name of God, as the very mouthpiece of 

5 John xiv. 16 : xvi. 13. 



Problem in Human Life 31 

divine truth; that Church, I say, who alone can trace back, 
through an unbroken tradition of nineteen hundred years, the 
divine commission to announce to all human generations the 
heavenly message of salvation brought upon earth by her 
Founder, the Incarnate Son of God, the Saviour and Redeemer 
of the world. 

37. Such a Church certainly has the authority and compe- 
tence to speak on the problem of life and if she speaks, she un- 
dubtedly has the right to be heard. 

Our Blessed Saviour's provision for the safe guidance of all 
Christian believers is briefly stated by the great Italian poet in 
the following verses — 

" Avete il vecchio e il nuovo Testamento 
E il Pastor della Chiesa' che vi guida: 
Quest o vi basti a vostro Salvamento." 6 

"The Testaments ye have both New and Old; 
A Pastor too to guide you is assigned: 
Let these suffice ; there saving truth you hold. ' ' 

Paraphrase 

You have the Pastor of the Church for your direction 
With the Old and the New Testament: 
Let these suffice for your salvation. 

Here I am reminded of Dry den 's distich : 

"But, generous God, how well dost Thou provide 
For erring judgment an unerring guide!" 

Basing, then, her teaching on the revealed word of God, em- 
bodied in the record of Holy Scripture and the language of tra- 
dition, She tells us that, in accordance with the benevolent de- 
signs of Divine Providence, the world, on which we dwell for a 
brief period of years, is but a preparation for the next, which 
shall last forever. Hence the present is intended for the fu- 
ture, time is for eternity, death is but the beginning of a new 
life, and the gloom of the grave must give place to the brightness 
of ever-enduring life. It is, then, from the voice, from the in- 
fallible authority of the Catholic Church that we learn the noble, 
lofty truth of our origin, and of the high destiny awaiting us 
beyond the grave ; a destiny so great, so precious, so sublime, that 
God, though infinitely wise, powerful and rich, could not devise 
for man a higher purpose, nor make him for a nobler object. To 
express this great, most cheering truth in simple words, the 
destiny reserved to the just, after their departure from this 
world, is nothing less than the vision, possession, and enjoyment 
of God, the infinite, perfect, eternal good, in the full splendor of 

e Dante, Paradiso, v. 76. 



32 Supreme Importance of the Religious 

His glory, when the creature shall be admitted to see face to 
face the matchless beauty of the Creator. "I," said the Lord 
to the holy Patriarch Abram, "am thy protector and thy re- 
ward exceeding great. " 7 Glorification of God by holiness of life 
upon earth and everlasting happiness in the kingdom of heaven, 
this is the twofold purpose of man's existence here and here- 
after. It is in such possession of God that the heart and mind 
of man find their highest bliss. There they have all they need 
and all they can crave. When the intellect is fed with divine 
truth, when the will embraces infinite good, and these are in- 
sured to them forever, then indeed man's happiness is supreme 
and the soul of man can crave for nothing more. This is the 
destiny promised and reserved to all human creatures who accom- 
plish God's will during their brief pilgrimage upon earth. It 
constitutes and forms a happiness perfect in its object, which is 
God Himself, boundless in its extent and eternal in its duration. 

38. The object of this volume is to demonstrate the solid, ada- 
mantine foundation upon which the sublime truths here enun- 
ciated and outlined are grounded, thus enabling the Christian 
reader to carry into execution the advice of St. Peter. "Being 
ready always to satisfy every one that asketh you a reason of that 
hope which is in you. ' ' 8 

39. After emphasizing the paramount importance of the sub- 
ject we are dealing with, it may be both interesting and useful 
to take a general glance at the attitude of mankind toward this 
truth, the religious problem of human life. My task in this re- 
gard has been greatly facilitated by the perusal of Dr. Osier's 
lecture, entitled "Science and Immortality" delivered in 1904 
at Harvard University. 

40. Proposing to himself the question what hold immortality 
and the consequent future retribution have upon men, he dis- 
tributes them into three separate classes, and states their respec- 
tive attitude toward those truths. He calls those of the first 
class Laodiceans, thus assimilating them to the prelate in charge 
of the church of Laodicea, of whom the Lord says in the Apoca- 
lypse : "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold not hot. ' ' ° 
Practical indifference is the attitude of men and women of this 
class. While accepting a belief in immortality, and the forms 
of some prevailing Christian denomination, they live practically 
uninfluenced by it, thus exhibiting a wholesale contrast or dis- 
sonance, between their inner and their outer life, between their 
Creed and their conduct. Among the educated and refined as 
well as among the masses, we find no ardent desire for a future 
life. It is not a subject of drawing-room conversation ; and the 
man whose habit it is to buttonhole his acquaintances and in- 

7 Gen. xv. 1. s l Peter iii. 15. » iii. 15. 



Problem in Human Life 33 

quire earnestly after their souls, is shunned like an impertinent 
bore. 

41. Among the non-Catholic clergy, as we shall have occasion 
to remark further on in Part X of our volume, it is not thought 
polite to refer to so delicate a topic. The Rev. Talmage of the 
Brooklyn Tabernacle takes to task his fellow ministers for not 
having enough backbone of moral courage to preach the whole 
Bible, to let their hearers know that it speaks of the wrath of 
God as truly as of the love of God. 10 Most ominous of all, as 
indicating the utter absence of interest on the part of the public, 
is the silence of the secular press, though in its columns are daily 
brought into prominence the works of the flesh, such as divorces, 
reckless exhibitions of uncensored indecent movies and the like. 

42. If among individuals we find little else but indifference to 
this great question, what shall we say of the national and public 
sentiment ? Immortality and all that it means is a dead issue in 
the great movements of the world. Hence it may be said in 
general that a living faith in a future existence has not with our 
statesmen and politicians the slightest influence in the settle- 
ment of the great social and national problems which confront 
the race to-day. Men will spend millions in expeditions to the 
North and South Poles, in deep-sea dredging for a new, hitherto 
unknown fish, in biological inquiries into protoplasm or bathybius 
as a source of life, and in astronomical observations to ascertain, 
if possible, the existence of living, rational beings in the distant 
planetary worlds, or in any investigation that might throw light 
on man's descent from the lower animals; but not a cent is 
appropriated or devoted to ascertain with any scientific assur- 
ance what is man's destiny in the present life and in the life to 
come. I understand that thousands and thousands of dollars 
a year are spent in this country for athletic sports in colleges 
and universities, but no boast is made of what is spent for the 
discussion of the most advantageous questions that can engage 
the attention of man, I mean the solution of moral, social, and 
religious problems, the only ones that have a bearing on man's 
lot in the eternal years. 

43. As we stated above, we reckon under the first class, in- 
dividuals — alas! too numerous indeed — who believe in the im- 
mortality of the human soul, and in the tenets of the Christian 
religion, but habitually fail to show by their moral conduct the 
sincerity of their belief; hence inconsistency is their character- 
istic trait. Nothing could be more unreasonable and unworthy 
of any man that respects himself. "That a man," says Msgr. 
Vaughan, 11 "who has no belief in a future life, should center all 
his happiness and pleasures upon this, and should try to extract 
all the enjoyment he can from it, is the most natural thing in 

io Unknown Country, p. 874. n Thoughts for all Times, p. 312. 



34 Supreme Importance of the Religious 

the world. But that one who professes the Christian Truth, who 
acknowledges that we are pilgrims and sojourners upon earth, 
who looks upon this life as a preparation for the next, as a short 
avenue to a happy eternity, that such men should take so great 
an interest in what they know to be so exceedingly flimsy and 
fleeting, and should attach so much importance to what they 
admit to be empty, vain and vanishing, this seems to me a prob- 
lem difficult to understand. ' ' The Laodiceans, we are referring 
to are, by their own confession firm believers in every Christian 
dogma, yet they seem to be able to reconcile with such a profes- 
sion a line of conduct diametrically opposite. What they openly 
affirm with their lips, they are perpetually denying by their ac- 
tions. Can we say of such men and women, young or old, that 
they are working to secure to themselves a happy eternity ? Are 
they acting on the Gospel's warning, ''Watch ye therefore, 
says Jesus Christ, for you know not the day nor the hour"? 12 
Let the Laodiceans here described bear in mind the words of 
the Apocalypse : ' ' Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold 
nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth. 13 

44. Coming now to the second group I find that Dr. Osier 
rightly designates them as Gallionians, because, like the Roman 
proconsul Gallio in the Acts of the Apostles, 14 they care for none 
of those things about which St. Paul spoke. They are men who 
try to persuade themselves that they have reached the intellec- 
tual conviction that there is nothing to hope for or to fear be- 
yond the grave; that, at all events, all this matter must be put 
aside as one which we know nothing about. Hence, consistently 
with this sweeping denial, the supernatural is to be put alto- 
gether out of man's life, and the existence of a hereafter re- 
garded as one of the many inventions which modern culture has 
done away with. 

45. After hinting that the radical negative attitude of such 
individuals toward a future world is a product of advanced 
science, Dr. Osier takes occasion to point out some of the other 
achievements of that science, all more or less destructive of im- 
mortal life. They are mere gratuitous assumptions, which need 
only be stated to be refuted. They show the flimsy structure on 
which their denial is built, which, like cobwebs, can be swept out 
with a breath. ''Science," says Dr. Osier, "has modified the 
views of man 's origin, of his place in nature, and in consequence, 
of his destiny. And the critical study of the Bible has weak- 
ened the belief in revelation, and so, indirectly, in immor- 
tality. ' ' 15 These are bold assertions unsupported by any proof. 
The Christian dogmas on the origin and destiny of man remain 
to-day in their full integrity as they were when first divinely re- 
vealed. Hence the new-fangled doctrine of our learned Doctor, 

12 Matt. xxv. 13. 13 iii. 16. i^xviii. 14, 17. is Pages 22, 24. 



Problem in Human Life 35 

and of that of one of his predecessors, Professor Huxley, who 
wrote on Man's Place in Nature from the standpoint of Mod- 
ern Science, have produced no modification whatever in the 
Catholic Creed. As to the Bible, in spite of the rash attempts 
and spasmodic efforts of Higher Criticism, the words of Christ, 
Eternal Truth, still remain likewise untouched: "Amen, I say 
unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall 
not pass of the Law till all be fulfilled." 16 

What do these so-called scientific men and Higher Critics gain 
by their undertakings ? They call on themselves the awful pun- 
ishments registered in the very Scripture which they are try- 
ing to discredit and nullify: "For I testify to every one that 
heareth the words of the prophecy of this book. If any man 
shall add to these things, God shall add unto him the plagues 
written in this book. If any man shall take away from the 
words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part 
out of the book of life, and out of the Holy City, and from these 
things that are written in this book." 17 

46. We are not surprised at this statement, for it simply bears 
witness to another of the many disastrous results produced by 
the substitution of private judgment for the infallible authority 
of the Catholic Church. If Dr. Osier and some of his disciples 
should come across the late W. E. Gladstone's work, "The Im- 
pregnable Rock of Holy Scripture," they might change their 
opinion about what is supposed to be a complete demolition of 
the Bible by the attacks of modern Higher Criticism. "You 
Rationalists," says the Catholic historian Darras, "for nearly 
twenty centuries, have been following each other in unceasing 
efforts to destroy a Book written in the olden times by a few 
Hebrews in an obscure corner of Asia. All human passions are 
your allies in this warfare. Thousands of other books have been 
discredited by a merciless criticism, and yet you have not suc- 
ceeded in destroying one page of this book. ' ' 18 

47. Then the medical sage adds: "Modern psychological sci- 
ence dispenses altogether with the soul. The old orthodox view 
has no place in science. The new psychologists have ceased to 
think nobly of the soul, and even speak of it as a complete super- 
fluity." This reminds us of the silly argument of the infidel 
doctor, who denied the existence of human souls, because, for- 
sooth, in his post-mortem anatomical dissections he never suc- 
ceeded in coming across one of them. This would-be learned 
medico, like all materialists, forgets that a spiritual substance, 
such as the human soul, must necessarily elude the grasp of any 
material instrument attempting to seize upon it. The existence, 
origin, spirituality, and immortality of the soul are demon- 
is Matt v. 18 37 Apoc. xxii. 18, 19 

is History of the Catholic Church, Preface. 



36 Supreme Importance of the Religious 

strated in numberless philosophical works, which no materialist 
has been able as yet to disprove. 

Moreover, Dr. Osier "laments the fact of the futile search of 
science for the spirits." Though there exist undeniable facts 
proving the existence of intellectual, spiritual beings, different 
from the human soul, yet it is admitted on all sides that the 
chief and most irrefragable testimony of the existing reality of 
both the good and the evil spirits is derived, not from science, but 
from divine revelation, which teaches us, at the same time, all 
we know about their nature, endowments, and destiny. 

Moreover, no one can deny the fact that Spiritism, though 
condemned by the Catholic Church for several valid reasons, 
bears testimony by its startling phenomena to the existence and 
activity of preternatural spiritual and intellectual beings alto- 
gether distinct from separated human souls. 19 

48. Dr. Osier says : ' ' Knowing nothing of the immortality of 
the spirit, science has put on an immortality of the flesh. ' ' This 
is, on many accounts, a strange admission. Our Doctor, as stated 
above, held that modern science did away altogether with the 
troublesome soul by denying its very existence, and here he 
frankly acknowledges that science knows nothing about the 
immortality of the spirit. This is indeed a precious confession. 
Modern scientists avow that they know nothing about the 
soul, and much less about its immortality. Now, if they are 
utterly ignorant on this subject, by what right do they assert 
that in this world there does not exist a single soul? But what 
does this learned Doctor mean by the ' ' immortality of the flesh, ' ' 
the triumphant discovery made by modern scientists? He evi- 
dently refers to the immortality of matter, which, in the mind of 
antireligious, so-called scientific men of our age, means its 
eternal existence independently of any Creator. 

49. In the words of the late Cardinal Manning, 20 "The plain 
English of such a theory is this: 'Anything you will, only no 
Creator.' But if there be no Creator, then matter is increate, 
that is, eternal. Is it easier to believe an eternal flesh than an 
eternal Creator? An eternal slime than an eternal Intelli- 
gence?" A popular and, at the same time, a forcible refuta- 
tion of the eternity of matter is found in Bishop Vaughan's 
article, "Evolution as an Argument for Theism." 21 The 
Saviour of the world reminds us of our Father who is in heaven. 
But according to Dr. Osier's view, the spokesman of modern 
scientists, we are uncrowned kings, for, he tells us, "the recent 
revelations of embryology deal a terrible blow to our pride of 
descent. For we are nothing more than the transient offshoots 
of a germ plasm. ' ' They accurately trace man's pedigree from a 

19 See the excellent work of J. Godfrey Raupert on Modern Spiritism; 
St. Louis, 1904. 20 The Religion of a Traveler, pp. 3, 4. 

2i See Faith and Folly, pp. 75 and 414. 



Problem in Human Life 37 

mere dab of protoplasm to a simple cell, from a cell to a mud-fish, 
from a mud-fish to a ring-tailed spider monkey, and so on till 
at last we find him seated in the professor's chair at the uni- 
versity, clothed with cap and gown lecturing on his own descent. 
Thus Science, they claim, "minimizes to the vanishing-point 
the importance of the individual man." So it does indeed by 
assimilating him to the brute creation, thus verifying the pro- 
phetic words of the Psalmist: "Man, when he was in honor, 
did not understand; he hath been compared to senseless beasts 
and made like to them. ' ' 22 

50. We here submit to the reader two diametrically opposite 
views on the condition and character of man, that he may him- 
self judge of their respective value. "Man," says Darwin, "is 
descended from a hairy quadruped, furnished with a tail and 
pointed ears, probably arboreal in its habits, and an inhabitant 
of the old world." 23 "Let man examine," writes Buff on, "an- 
alyze, and deeply scrutinize himself, and he will soon recognize 
the nobility of his being; he will feel the existence of his soul, 
and cease to lower himself: he will perceive at a glance the im- 
mense distance which the Supreme Being has placed between 
himself and the beasts. ' ' 24 

51. As the ranks of the Gallionians are considerably swelled by 
the numerous disciples of infidel, materialistic science, I deemed 
it advisable to analyze and expose, at some length, the sophistry 
by which they pretend to justify their unbelief in any future ex- 
istence. But there are other reasons accounting for their hos- 
tile attitude toward the teachings of Christianity; and they are 
the purity of its morals, and the dogma of man's accountability 
to his Maker. ' ' Suppress the sixth commandment, ' ' says Pascal, 
"and you will see thousands joining the ranks of the Christian 
religion, who at present remain outside of it." We may here 
apply to our subject what the distinguished French writer La 
Bruyere said of those who deny the existence of God : "I would 
like to see a man who is sober, chaste, honest, upright, declare 
that there is no future life, but such a man is not to be found. ' ' 25 

52. The third class, according to Dr. Osier's nomenclature, 
goes under the name of Theresians, which, of course, is synony- 
mous with Catholics. The first thing that strikes us is the fact 
that the 290 millions of Catholics are designated by the re- 
nowned Doctor as a pusillus grex, that is, a poor, insignificant 
little flock. But this reflection need not dishearten us in the 
least ; nay, on the contrary, it should cheer us up for the reason 
given by the Divine Saviour in His Gospel: "Fear not, little 
flock, for it hath pleased your Father to give you a kingdom. ' ' 26 
Another source of consolation the little flock finds in these other 
words of Christ's Gospel: "Enter ye in at the narrow gate; for 

22 p s . xlviii. 21. 23 Descent of Man, vol. II, p. 389. 24 Zoology. 

25 Caraeteres, c. 16. 26 Luke xii. 32. 



38 Supreme Importance of the Religious 

wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, 
and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate 
and strait is the way that leadeth to life, and few there are that 
find it." - 7 But before we proceed, we might as well try to help 
Dr. Osier and his disciples to realize what the small little flock of 
Theresians means after all. From a recent lecture on religion of 
the Catholic University course 1 became acquainted with the 
following calculation : 

53. From the quite reliable statistics of the ''Atlas Hierarchi- 
cus," by P. C. Street, C. V. D., we learn that about two hundred 
and ninety millions, or nearly twice as many as the members of 
all the Protestant Churches together, swear allegiance to Rome, 
the one Church universal. It has been computed that if all the 
Catholics of the world were lined up in the United States Army 
marching form, on the calculation that one hundred and seventy- 
six men pass a given point a minute, it would take the Catholic 
army marching without intermission day and night three years 
and fifty-six days to pass the reviewing-point. Arranged fifty 
abreast the column would extend from Havana to the North 
Pole ; strung out in single file they would form a line two hun- 
dred and thirty-nine thousand miles long, circling our globe ap- 
proximately about nine times. All this indicates that quite an 
advance has been made beyond the original one hundred and 
twenty Christians,- 8 counting the eleven apostles whom Christ 
left behind as the rulers of His Church at His Ascension into 
heaven. 

54. But to return to our subject, leaving the broad way and 
the wide gate to the members of the two preceding groups of 
men, the Laodiceans and the Gallionians, we Catholics shall be 
satisfied with being ranked as Theresians. 

He begins by eulogizing them as follows: "They alone have 
preserved in the past, and still keep for us to-day the Faith/' 
"Though a little flock," Dr. Osier adds, "this third group is the 
salt of the earth, so far as preserving for us a firm conviction of 
another and a better world. They have formed the moral leaven 
of humanity." But the Doctor, repenting, as it were, of the 
good things he said of this third group, thus describes them 
from the modern scientist's viewpoint: "They are narrow, 
prejudiced, often mistaken in worldly ways and methods. They 
are mystics, idealists with no strong reason for the faith that is 
in them." This last charge is a piece of effrontery as false as 
it is ridiculous, for it comes to this : We poor, narrow-minded, 
deluded Catholics blindly believe without knowing any strong 
reason for the faith that is in us. Then the great Fathers of 
the Church, Augustine, Jerome, Ambrose, Gregory, Athanasius, 
Basil, Cyril, the two Oriental Gregories, etc., whose learned vol- 
umes, preserved to this day, expound and vindicate every article 

27 Matt. vii. 13, 14. 28 Acts i. 15. 



* Problem in Human Life 39 

of Christian doctrine, according to Dr. Osier, knew nothing of 
the faith that was in them. The schoolmen of the Middle Ages, 
headed by that unrivaled genius, Thomas Aquinas, and the more 
than twelve thousand theological writers that followed them, 
they also were completely ignorant of the reasons for their be- 
lief. And, coming to modern times, the immortal Bossuet, and 
the galaxy of French orators, Massillon, Bourdaloue, Fenelon, 
Frassinoux, whose volumes fill the libraries of the civilized world, 
are reckoned by Dr. Osier among the ignoramuses, for they knew 
nothing of the Christian Faith. And, in our times the eminent 
English cardinals, Wiseman, Manning, and Newman, the cele- 
brated American writer Dr. Brownson, and other renowned au- 
thors of Europe and America could give no reason of their belief. 

55. The Doctor then accuses Catholics of their blind submis- 
sion to authority and their unreasoning acceptance of its teach- 
ings, however absurd. This other utterly groundless charge is 
easily refuted. Long ago St. Thomas Aquinas had formulated 
the doctrine of the Church regarding faith in these terms: 
' ' Reason would not believe, if it did not see why it ought to be- 
lieve. ' ' He was then only repeating what a still greater genius, 
St. Augustine, had written on this subject as early as the fifth 
century of the Christian era, ''God forbid that our subjection 
to the teachings of faith should prevent us from inquiring into 
the reason of what we believe, since we could not believe, if we 
were not endowed with reason. ' ? 29 

56. Hence we even go so far as to admit, in the search after 
religious truth, a legitimate use of private judgment, that is, of 
the gift of reason. This consists in the study of the testimony 
of divine truth, that is, in finding out the teacher divinely ap- 
pointed to show us God's revelation, and to interpret and explain 
its meaning. When such a teacher is once ascertained, then the 
imperative duty of the honest inquirer after truth is to submit 
to his authority. But he would make an illegitimate use of his 
private judgment if he were to think that he is at liberty and 
competent to judge for himself what that Revelation teaches, to 
make his own fallible reason the test and measure of what he 
ought to believe or ought not to believe, and to pretend to be 
able to dispense with the heavenly appointed guidance and ex- 
pounder of revealed truths. 

Dr. Brownson writes thus: "I have been, during thirteen 
years of my Catholic life, constantly engaged in the study of the 
Church and her doctrines, and especially in their relations to 
philosophy, or natural reason. I have had occasion to examine 
and defend Catholicity precisely under those points of view 
which are most odious to my non-Catholic countrymen and to 
the Protestant mind generally; but I have never, in a single 
instance, found a single article, dogma, proposition, or definition 

29 Epist. ad Cosent. 



40 Supreme Importance of the Religious 

of faith, which embarrassed me as a logician, or which I would, 
so far as my own reason was concerned, have changed, or modi- 
fied, or in any respect altered from what I found it, even if I 
had been free to do so. I have never found my reason strug- 
gling against the teachings of the Church, or felt it restrained, 
or myself reduced to a state of mental slavery. I have, as a 
Catholic, felt and enjoyed a mental freedom which I never con- 
ceived possible while I was a non-Catholic. This is my experi- 
ence ; and, though not worth much, yet in this matter, whereof 
I have personal knowledge, it is worth something. 

''I have found the Church all that her ministers represented 
her, all that my imagination painted her, and infinitely more than 
I had conceived it possible for her to be. My experience as a 
Catholic, so far as the Church, her doctrines, her morals, her 
discipline, her influences are concerned, has been a continued 
succession of agreeable surprises. ' ' 30 

57. When Dr. Osier stated in his lecture on ' ' Science and Im- 
mortality ' ' that an immense majority of men live practically un- 
influenced by the thought of a future life and a judgment to come, 
he was uttering, alas! a real, though sad truth. 

In fact, look out upon the world around us. Witness the 
lives of the multitudes. For what are they living? What is 
their great purpose in life? What thoughts are seething and 
swelling up from the secret recesses of their hearts? For the 
most part their thoughts and aims are bent upon riches, honors, 
distinctions, high social positions, comforts, pleasure and amuse- 
ments. The sight of so much folly should force from us scalding 
tears. What is this life? A mere point of time utterly value- 
less except in so far as it is related to eternity, and wholly vain 
except in as much as it is a preparation for and a seed of future 
glory. Such is the true Christian view. 

58. But let man but once persuade himself, as not a few mod- 
ern scientists claim, that he is no better than a developed ape; 
and that between him and the beasts there is only a distinction 
of degree, of more or less ; then but one more step remains to be 
taken, and that is to lead the life of a beast, to eat, to drink, to 
indulge every sensual passion, and to follow every low and brutal 
instinct, to seek pleasure and delight in gluttony, intemperance 
and impurity. 

59. Let us draw the curtain over such revolting theories and 
listen rather to the voice of God, our heavenly Father, who with 
ineffable love has made us a little lower than the angels, has be- 
stowed upon our soul the precious gifts of intelligence, freedom, 
and immortality, and will crown us with glory in His own eternal 
kingdom, if we make of them the wise and legitimate use for 
which He has granted them to us. Only in proportion to the 
extent in which we realize our high estate and keep the memory 

30 The Convert, chapters xix, xx. 



Problem in Human Life 41 

of it ever before us, shall we live up to the lofty standard set by 
our Supreme Master and model, Jesus Christ. 

60. We shall describe this destiny and the means for reaching 
it in the first part of our work, to which we invite the reader's 
earnest attention. In the whole range of subjects that can 
claim man's serious consideration, there is none more important 
than this, for here it is a question, as we observed above, not of 
mere possibility but of stern reality. If the conviction of the 
existence of future life is nothing but a dream, how can we ac- 
count for its being so universal — for its being the dominating 
factor in many men 's thoughts and desires ? For it is indis- 
putable that this notion is common to the race, bearing the as- 
pect not of an idle dream or the subjective imaginings of this 
or that individual, but of a deep-seated persuasion essentially 
distinct from a mere product of the human imagination and com- 
mon to the savage as well as to the civilized portion of mankind, 
as will be proved farther on. 

61. As the golden ground, on which the old masters painted 
their pictures, lends dignity and splendor to the figures them- 
selves, so the belief in the eternal retribution awaiting the just 
in the life to come forms the background of all our actions and 
imparts a supernatural value to the least things that we do and 
suffer. It is, so to speak, the magician's wand, which transforms 
terrestrial into celestial things, changes the thorns of pain into 
roses of merit and gives us a foretaste of the forthcoming felicity 
by the pleasure of anticipation. As the stars shine down on 
earth's darkness, so the thought of things eternal stands out 
immutable over the ceaseless tides of human affairs, and our 
soul turns to them for guidance, as the eyes of the pilot look at 
the polar star for direction, amidst the perils of the stormy deep. 

62. I cheerfully subscribe to and make my own the wise and 
loyal utterances of Arthur Preuss, written over sixteen years 
ago in his valiant Fortnightly Review, and reproduced in a 
recent issue : 31 "As long as I can wield a pen, I faithfully 
promise, with the grace of God, that I will turn it to good uses, 
and with all the power at my command, and all the light that 
prayerful and conscientious study can bring me, untiringly 
champion the sacred cause of Catholic truth and justice, to de- 
fend which, even with limited ability, and in a narrow circle, I 
consider a greater thing than to occupy the Presidential chair. ' ' 

The reader is hereby informed that the official decisions, defi- 
nitions and decrees of the Holy See as contained in Papal docu- 
ments, or in the records of Ecumenical or General Councils, are 
quoted from * ' Denzinger 's Enchiridion," eleventh edition. 

The quotations from the Fathers, Doctors of the Church, and 
other ecclesiastical writers, are borrowed from the following re- 
liable sources: 

3i July 1, 1917. 



42 The Religious Problem in Human Life 

1. "Enchiridion Patristicum, " compiled and edited by M. J. 
Rouet de Journel, S. J. 

2. "The Collection of Greek and Latin Fathers." Edited by 
L'Abbe Migne. 

3. "The Faith of Catholics." New Edition. Edited by the 
late Mssrr. Capel. 

4. "What is of Faith as to Everlasting Punishment." Work 
of the Reverend Anglican minister, E. B. Pusey, D. D. Second 
Edition. 1880. 



THE FUTURE LIFE 

PART I 

THE END OF MAN 

CHAPTER I 

THE TRUE END OF MAN 

63. The earth, a comparatively small region of the solar sys- 
tem, is man's temporary habitation, the place, in which his life 
is originated, developed and completed. But what is the task 
which he is expected to accomplish during his brief sojourn in 
the present world? God creates nothing without a purpose or 
end. If His own rational creatures do nothing without some 
object or design, the same must, with far greater reason, be said 
of the infinite Creator, who could not make man, the crown and 
complement of creation, without a wise purpose, so that human 
existence might not be useless, so to speak, and meaningless. 
No necessity whatever pressed God to create the world, or man 
its inhabitant, for the infinitely perfect Being stands in need of 
nothing external to Himself. But when He once decreed to 
create, it was necessary that He should wish to attain by creation 
an end worthy of Himself. Such is evidently the postulate de- 
manded by His infinite wisdom. Intending to speak further on 
of God's purpose in the creation of the universe, we ask now 
what is the end for which God made man? It is plain that 
here we do not inquire about the special ends, which each may 
choose at will, but about the general, supreme end, which the 
Creator had in view in bringing man into existence. We mean 
to determine what is the supreme and last end, to which be sub- 
ordinated all the special ends that each individual may prefix 
to himself. 

64. To explain this point still more fully the following objec- 
tion must be answered at the very outset. It is said : Granted 
that human life must have a purpose or end to fulfil ; but this is 
to be determined by each one individually in accordance with the 
light of his intellect and the inclinations and promptings of his 
will, the two faculties conferred by God on man for that very 
purpose. 

We answer: So long as it is question of immediate and sub- 
ordinate ends of life, it is quite true that each one may freely 

43 



44 The True End of Man 

choose his peculiar task, profession, or trade, and in so doing 
he is assisted both by his intelligence and will, so that he may 
choose aright, putting in practice the precept which old Horace 
gives in his Ars Poetica (38), in reference to literary pursuits: 

65. "Ye writers, choose a subject fitted to your strength, and 
ponder long what your shoulders refuse to bear and what they 
are able to support." 

In consequence of this liberty of choice one may select sci- 
ence, art, commerce, or any trade or profession, according to the 
competence of his mind and the circumstances and surround- 
ings in which he finds himself. This is perfectly true ; but we 
should not overlook the fact that all these particular ends must 
be made subservient and subordinate to one superior, uniform 
end; an end not intended exclusively for this or that indi- 
vidual, but for man as such, and therefore common to all men 
without any exception whatever. Hence this is not the particu- 
lar end, for instance, of the scientist, of the artist, of the lawyer, 
of the physician, of the school teacher or of the university pro- 
fessor, of the banker or of the laborer, etc.; but of men and 
women as are God's chosen creatures and members of the hu- 
man race. In short, it is the end which a bountiful Providence 
has placed within the reach of every individual of the human 
family, whether savage or civilized. On this account, the worth 
of a man's life is to be determined in the next world not by the 
measure of success achieved in any occupation, trade or pro- 
fession, but by one's steadfast adherence to duty in the pursuit 
of his last end. For future life ultimately consists in a perma- 
nent state of perfection and happiness either forever secured, 
or forever irrevocably missed. The whole duty of mortal man 
is thus summed up by the sacred writer, "Fear God and keep 
His commandments : for this is all man. ' ' x The great question 
of man's true end can be easily settled, and all opposite theories 
rejected as erroneous, when we realize this important truth, that 
Almighty God, through His infinite goodness, raised man to the 
supernatural order, and supplied him with the means necessary 
for the attainment of the end proper of that order. 

The weightiest then of all questions presenting themselves to 
the thinking man are those that relate directly to the end for 
which man was created, the supreme utility of that end, and the 
means by which to secure it. As it has been noticed above, there 
is, no doubt, in this world a variety of ends or purposes, which 
each individual may have to fulfil ; but there must be one which 
is universal, indispensable, and supreme, to which all other in- 
ferior ends are subordinate, an end imperatively demanding a 
most complete and faithful correspondence on the part of man. 
The various degrees of fidelity and perfection, with which the 
highest, last end is pursued, will produce either simply a just, 

i Ecclesiastes xii. 13. 



How It can be Infallibly Attained 45 

upright man, or a perfect Christian, or even a saint. True cor- 
respondence with our last end is the one thing that really mat- 
ters. What will all the world beside profit me, if I fail of my 
destiny ? A divine Teacher said long ago : ' ' What doth it profit 
a man if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own 
soul?"t 

CHAPTER II 

IN WHAT THE TRUE END OF MAN CONSISTS 

66. As we shall see farther on, modern, rationalistic science 
and atheistic culture, so-called, are shown to be utterly unable 
to find a satisfactory answer to the question of the Supreme Good 
and last end of man. 1 A perfectly satisfactory answer has been 
given long ago by theism, the science of God, aided by the lumi- 
nous teachings of divine revelation, according to which God alone 
is the highest, final purpose or end of all creation, and there- 
fore of man, its masterpiece. The world, or the universe, and 
all the beings they contain, are the work of Divine Omnipotence. 
To the question, for what end has God created them ? there is but 
one true answer, and it is this: He created them for Himself, 
for His own glory. Hence, Holy Writ tells us: "The Lord 
hath made all things for Himself. 2 This, however, is not to be 
understood in the sense that God intended by Creation to se- 
cure some good of which He stood in need. The Infinite and the 
Eternal cannot be in need of anything temporal, of any good 
external to Himself, for He is infinitely perfect and happy from 
all eternity. What then induced Him to create? 

67. The only reason or motive was His own infinite goodness, 
that is the wish to make His creatures partakers of His own su- 
perabundant happiness. It is evident that rational creatures 
alone can be conscious sharers of such happiness and realize in 
some manner the unrivaled sublimity of such disinterested mo- 
tive on the part of the Creator. Consequently, as we shall soon 
see, they alone are able to enter into God's designs and freely 
co-operate with Him, whenever possible, to attain that end, the 
partaking of God's own happiness. Even at the risk of indulg- 
ing in a somewhat premature anticipation, I cannot refrain from 
reminding the reader of the following divine promises, guaran- 
teeing to us a share in the enjoyment of God's own happiness and 
bliss in the life to come. The Lord said to Abram, the Father of 
all believers : "I am thy reward exceeding great. ' ' 3 The 
Supreme Judge will welcome each one of the just on the 
threshold of eternity by the following cheering words: "Well 

t Matt. xvi. 2G. 2 p ro v. xvi. 4. 

1 See Introduction, nn. 30, 31, 32. 3 Genes, xv. 1. 



46 The True End of Man 

done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy 
Lord. " 4 " Saith the Lord : To him that shall overcome, I will 
give to sit with Me in My throne." 5 Therefore God Himself, 
in the same sense just explained, is man's ultimate end; and this 
for the best of reasons. For if the last scope of creative action 
were not God Himself, but some external good, He would depend 
in His will and operations on exterior causes, and would, on 
that account, cease to be utterly independent and infinitely per- 
fect. God then is truly the Alpha and Omega, the beginning 
and the end of all things, as divine revelation teaches and human 
reason approves. 

68. To develop this truth still further we ask : But in what 
sense precisely is God said to be the ultimate end of His ra- 
tional creatures 1 Not certainly, as we proved above, in order to 
acquire through them some good or perfection; but He brought 
them into existence for the purpose of sharing with them His 
own immense happiness and making them instrumental in pro- 
claiming His glory. They alone, among all earthly creatures, are 
capable of glorifying God directly, for they alone can understand 
the wisdom, power, and goodness and other Divine perfections, 
which God manifests both through the wisdom of creation, and 
the far greater marvels of man's redemption. These conditions en- 
able us to understand the lofty significance of the familiar motto 
of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam — for the 
Greater Glory of God, by which he points out the sublime pur- 
pose or end of man, the glorification of God, his Creator and Su- 
preme Benefactor. It is exactly through the fulfilment of this 
end that man becomes worthy of being himself glorified by the 
possession of heavenly everlasting bliss, promised in Holy Writ : 
"Whosoever shall glorify me, saith the Lord, him will I glorify." 6 
Hence these two ends are so intimately associated and connected 
together that the attainment of the proximate end, God 's glorifi- 
cation, will infallibly secure the obtaining of the remote end, the 
glorification or perfect happiness of man. 

But let me explain still further these two ends. The proxi- 
mate end, to be attained in the present life, is both extrinsic and 
intrinsic. The extrinsic or primary end consists in this: that 
man should glorify God by knowing, praising, obeying, and serv- 
ing Him, that is, by rendering to Him the worship due to Him. 
It is plain that this glorification of God by His rational creatures 
in the present life is naturally and necessarily imperfect. The 
intrinsic, proximate end consists in this: that man by the prac- 
tice of virtue and the cultivation of perfection, in other words, 
by doing God's holy will, renders His worship pleasing to Him, 
for no worship or service of God can be acceptable to Him, and 
be therefore worthy of eternal reward, unless it is accompanied 

•iMatt. xxv. 21 sApoc. iii. 21. 6 1 Kings ii 30. 



How It can be Infallibly Attained 47 

by a virtuous, upright life. So much about the proximate end 
and its distinction. 

69. The ultimate end is realized only in the next life, and is 
likewise twofold extrinsic, and intrinsic. The extrinsic will be 
the perfect glorification of God in heaven by the blessed through 
the tribute of adoration, praise, gratitude, and love rendered to 
Him; a homage most pleasing to His Divine Majesty, because of 
the perfection and holiness possessed by the saints in glory. 

The extrinsic, ultimate end will be the perfect glorification, 
and beatitude of man, when the Lord's promise, made to the 
holy Patriarch Abram : "lam thy reward exceeding great, ' ' 7 
will be fulfilled in every one of the blessed. Of this perfect 
bliss speaks the Royal Psalmist in these words addressed to the 
Lord : "I shall be satisfied, when thy glory shall appear. ' ' 8 

70. Therefore the chief, primary purpose which God intended 
to attain by creation is His own glory and this end, being abso- 
lute, that is, necessary and unconditional, will be infallibly at- 
tained by Him. The secondary end God had in view in creating 
man is to make him partaker, as far as possible, and in propor- 
tion to his deserts, of His own divine happiness. Now this end 
not being absolute, but conditional, its attainment is made de- 
pendent on the legitimate use of the liberty of man, when capable 
of exercising it. 

71. If, therefore, man freely chooses to glorify God in the pres- 
ent world by submission to His will, he will perfectly glorify 
Him and proclaim His mercy and goodness in the eternal hap- 
piness of heaven with Christ and the blessed. If, however, by 
the abuse of his liberty and rebellion to God 's will, he refuses to 
glorify Him upon earth, he will, in spite of himself, proclaim 
His power, glory, and justice with Satan and the reprobates in 
hell. Therefore, it does not depend on man to glorify God or not 
to glorify Him at all. The only thing that depends on him 
and is left to his choice is the manner of glorifying Him. By 
obedience to His will on earth he will sing forever God 's mercies 
and goodness in heaven. By resistance to the divine will, he 
chooses, as his everlasting lot, the proclamation of God's omnip- 
otence and justice in the punishment of hell. This is the ob- 
ject of our freedom, either heaven with Christ and the blessed ; 
or hell with Satan and the lost. The alternative is terrible ; but, 
as far as God is concerned, He cannot be robbed of His glory 
by the wickedness of men. 

We must eternally live either under the empire of His love, 
or under that of His justice; either glorify God, His goodness 
and mercy by free obedience and endless happiness, or glorify 
His power and justice by interminable punishment. ' ' The Lord 
hath made all things for Himself; the wicked also for the evil 
day." 9 

7 Gen. xv. 1. s p s . X vi. 15. 9 Prov. xvi. 4. 



48 The True End of Man 

72. An additional evidence of the excellence and sublimity of 
man's last end and future destiny is supplied by the following 
consideration : 

St. Ignatius says of the meditation on the end of man that it 
is the principle and foundation of the science of spiritual life; 
and it is so indeed. In fact, every science worthy of the name 
must rest on some general principle, on some primitive truth con- 
taining in itself, like a seed, all the knowledge flowing from it, 
as its natural, logical consequences. So long as such principle 
is not known and firmly established, there can be no true science. 
We may possess an assemblage of different cognitions and facts 
on some special subject; but all such truths and facts stand in 
the same relation to science as the materials gathered for the con- 
struction of an edifice stand to that edifice. So long as they are 
not so disposed, arranged, and placed in their proper position to 
form a complete symmetrical whole, the stones, the bricks, the 
lumber, the steel bars, etc., will form a heap, but they will not 
constitute a cathedral, or any other stately building. In such 
condition were several branches of natural science such as as- 
tronomy, mechanics, dynamics, before Newton discovered the 
principle and law of gravitation. 

The same reasoning can be applied to that queen of sciences, 
the science of spiritual life, which alone can produce the virtu- 
ous, the Christians, and the saints. Its chief objects are God 
and man, and the relation between them, whence arises the vir- 
tue or obligation of religion. So long as the several truths de- 
rived from the relation of the creature to the Creator are not 
orderly arranged and traced to a general master principle or 
primary truth, which dominates them all and radically contains 
them, true spiritual science can have no existence. Now, we ask, 
what is that ruling principle and leading truth, on which 
spiritual science is founded? "Man/' answers St. Ignatius in 
his "Spiritual Exercises," "has been created to know, praise, 
honor, obey, and serve God, and by so doing to save his soul." 
This is the truth, this is the principle, on which all wisdom, 
justice, virtue, and sanctity rest, the knowledge of the destiny 
of man. This chief truth is also called the foundation, for upon 
it reposes the whole structure of our spiritual life, the life of 
divine grace, the surest pledge of the life of eternal glory. 



CHAPTER III 

HOW DO IRRATIONAL CREATURES GLORIFY GOD AND 
ASSIST MAN IN FULFILLING THAT NOBLE TASK? 

73. To explain at greater length what has been briefly stated 
above, we here ask: In what does the glorification of a being 



How It can be Infallibly Attained 49 

consist? In the recognition, esteem, and admiration of its en- 
dowments and perfections. God possesses this supreme and in- 
finite glorification in Himself, for He knows His infinite perfec- 
tions in the clearest light. He rejoices in them with infinite love 
and delight, which render Him perfectly happy and infinitely 
contented. But it is not the internal, but the external glorifica- 
tion of God, that constitutes the end of creation; that, namely, 
which is given to Him by His rational creatures by recognizing 
Him as a God, infinitely perfect, as the supreme Master and 
Ruler of the universe by revering Him, admiring, praising, and 
loving Him ; by submitting themselves to His holy will by the ob- 
servance of His commands. It is by such voluntary homages 
that rational creatures glorify their Maker and thus render 
themselves worthy of the highest participation of His divine 
essence, which consists in the possession of eternal bliss, accord- 
ing to the words of St. Peter: "That by these [Christ's 
promises] you may be made partakers of the divine nature. ' ' 1 
As St. Ignatius writes in the Spiritual Exercises: "Man was 
made to know, praise, revere and serve his Lord God and, by 
so doing, to save his soul. ' ' 

As we stated above, the manifestation of the perfections 
of God, such as His wisdom, goodness, and omnipotence, consti- 
tutes the supreme end of creation. Here we ask : To whom is 
this manifestation made ? Certainly not to irrational creatures, 
which, being destitute of intelligence, are absolutely incapable of 
receiving and heeding such manifestation. Therefore the mani- 
festation of the divine perfections was intended for and actu- 
ally made to rational creatures only, for they alone can discover 
marks and vestiges of intelligence, wisdom, and beauty in the 
universe, and extol the knowledge, goodness, and omnipotence of 
the Author. For, as St. Paul writes, "the invisible things of 
Him, from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being un- 
derstood by the things that are made ; His eternal power also and 
divinity ; so that they are inexcusable. ' ' 2 The same truth is con- 
veyed by an inspired writer of the Old Testament : ' ' For by the 
greatness of the beauty and of the creature, the Creator of them 
may be seen, so as to be known thereby. ' ' 3 

74. But irrational and material beings have also been made 
for the glory of God. ' ' The Lord, ' ' says the sacred writer, ' ' hath 
made all things for Himself, ' ' 4 and they are intended to glorify 
Him particularly through the action of man. 

Man, the lord of creation, is to be the high priest of the world, 
gathering up the dumb worship of inanimate and irrational 
creatures, and making them minister to the glory of the Most 
High. 

This is the meaning of the sublime canticle sung by the three 
martyred youths in the Babylonian furnace: ''All ye works of 

i 2 Peter i. 4. 2 R m. i. 20. 3 Wis. xiii. 5. * Prov. xvi. 4. 



50 The True End of Man 

the Lord, bless the Lord; praise and exalt Him above all for 
ever. ' ' 5 

In fact, all such creatures, besides contributing to his physical 
well-being and support, also reveal to him through their natural 
beauty, usefulness, and properties, the perfections of their Crea- 
tor, His greatness, power, and goodness, and thus assist man in 
glorifying Him. 

75. But let us see how true is the statement that the wonders 
of creation assist man in a marvelous manner in the knowledge 
and glorification of God, the Creator. As sound philosophy 
teaches us, every effect bears in itself the imprint of its cause. 
Hence from the quality, character, and perfection of the effect 
we may easily infer the nature and perfection of the cause that 
produced it. As the majestic structure of St. Peter's Cathedral 
reveals to the beholder the powerful genius of Bramante and 
Michelangelo; as the famous Madonnas display before our ad- 
miring gaze the artistic talent possessed by Raphael and Murillo ; 
so the whole visible creation manifests to us the greatness of 
God, who devised it with His wisdom, and brought it into being 
by His omnipotence. 

To form some idea of the manifestation of God's wisdom and 
power by creation, let me call to the reader's attention the fol- 
lowing wonders of the sidereal world as revealed by astron- 
omy. 

76. Take as an instance the giant sun, the great luminary 
which the Almighty called forth from nothingness to illumine 
our planet, and all the bodies of the solar system. Its diameter 
is 855,000 miles. Its volume or bulk is 1,200,000 times greater 
than that of the earth, and its mass, that is, the quantity of mat- 
ter it contains, is more than 800 times greater than that of all the 
planets put together. Its mean distance from the earth is 
93,000,000 miles, and since light travels at the rate of 192,000 
miles per second, it takes 8 minutes for it to reach us. As to 
the heat of that mighty globe, it has been said by astronomers 
that if the earth were to fall into it, our globe would melt and 
evaporate like a flake of snow. At the distance of 93,000,000 
miles from our earth, were it not for the atmosphere that modi- 
fies and tempers the sun 's rays, they are strong and fierce enough 
to melt a crust of ice enveloping the earth 100 feet in depth in a 
year, and cause all the oceans to boil within that space of time. 
The noise of the terrific disturbance going on in the sun is of 
such power that it alone would kill a man, were he placed within 
5,000 miles from its rim. 6 The incandescent gases, which are 
seen on the surface of the sun, rise as high as 250,000 miles ; they 
shoot out to these great distances at the rate of several hundred 
miles per second. 

s Dan. iii. 57 et seq. 6 See Pith of Astronomy, by S. G. Bayne. 



How It can be Infallibly Attained 51 

77. As Sir John Herschel has well said, giant size and great 
strength are ugly qualities without beneficence. But the sun is 
the great almoner of the Almighty, the delegated dispenser to 
us of light and warmth, and as such the immediate source of all 
our comforts, and indeed of the very possibility of our existence 
on earth. In fact, let the sun disappear for a few days and 
every living creature on earth would be destroyed. 7 Moreover, 
it is an unquestioned truth that the millions of globes filling the 
firmament are all in motion with a rapidity that is bewildering. 
To quote an instance out of many, the earth on which we dwell, 
is actually whirling, rushing along its pathway round the sun 
at a speed far surpassing the velocity of the swiftest projectile 
shot from the most powerful piece of ordnance. On board 
this mighty ship we travel through the wide ocean of ether 
at the rate of 18 miles per second, 1,080 miles per minute, 64,800 
miles an hour. We thus travel 1,555,200 miles daily through the 
skies, but never over the same path, as we are, so to speak, chained 
to the sun, and along with the other planets, their satellites and 
all the members of the solar system, we follow its course through 
starry space. Yet our earth moves slowly as compared with 
other globes. The star Arcturus, for example, travels over 
50 miles in one second. The holy prophet Job refers to it, say- 
ing : i ' Canst thou stop the turning about of Arcturus ? " 8 Yet 
the whole solar system is but a mere speck in the universe, an 
atom of sand on the shore, a drop in the all but infinite ocean of 
space. Now all these millions of globes are suspended without 
any support whatever. "Who fixes their position and controls 
their movements? He that with His omnipotent power first 
brought them into existence and launched them into space. 

78. The consideration of the stupendous phenomena of starry 
space cannot but suggest lofty thoughts and sublime sentiments 
to every unprejudiced man, and particularly to such spectators 
as look upon those wonders with the eye of Christian faith, as the 
work of a most wise, most benign and mighty Creator, "Who 
doth things great and incomprehensible and wonderful, of which 
there is no number. ' ' 9 

I firmly believe that the marvels of the world afford a new 
charm when men are not satisfied with merely contemplating 
the external beauty of nature, but strive to reach the intelligence 
and the power behind it. By so doing they are easily led from 
the admiration of the material universe to the knowledge, love 
and worship of Him who is its invisible Creator and omnipotent 
Ruler. 

Nothing indeed contributes more to deepen in our minds the 
impression of the grandeur and majesty of God than the con- 
templation of the beauty of the numberless creatures, which He 
made to interest our knowledge, to excite our admiration, to 
7 See Proctor, The Expanse of Heaven. 8 Job xxxviii. 31. 9 J b i x . 10. 



52 The True End of Man 

captivate our love, and to minister to our innocent pleasures and 
countless needs. 

The more familiar we become with the wonders of creation 
that surround us in the present world, the brighter grow our 
hopes and aspirations of the realities of the next, of which the 
present is but a shadow. 

79. How utterly contemptible and deeply humiliated must 
the sinner appear to himself, when he reflects that he, a puny 
worm of the earth, dares by his rebellion defy the Omnipotent 
and fling insults into the face of the Sovereign Creator and Euler 
of the universe! As the holy prophet Job writes: "He [the 
sinner] hath stretched out his hand against God, and hath 
strengthened himself against the Almighty. ' ' 10 

80. As we ponder on the marvels of the universe, our mind 
becomes overwhelmed and bewildered, and we are brought down 
upon our knees in admiration and prostrate prayer. It is, then, 
true that rational beings, helped by the marvelous though silent 
language of irrational and material creatures, can come to a 
greater and deeper knowledge of God \s attributes and perfections 
and be thus moved to glorify Him, and render to Him the homage 
of worship, reverence, praise, submission, and love, to which He 
is justly entitled. If man, therefore, will accomplish on earth the 
task assigned to him by his Creator, his spontaneous homages, 
his tribute of love, gratitude, and obedience will be rewarded, as 
he will thereby secure the possession of heavenly happiness for all 
eternity. 

If what has been said is likely to deepen the impression of the 
grandeur and majesty of God and to move the reader to exalt 
Him more devoutly above all His works, we have been more than 
rewarded for our pains. Any reflection which can aid us in 
arriving at a higher and more accurate conception of our Creator 
and Sovereign- Ruler, and in forming- a more correct estimate of 
the emptiness and insignificance of all visible things as con- 
trasted with the invisible things, which await us hereafter, must 
be of supreme value. Our expectation of the future increases 
with our knowledge of the present ; and the more thorough is our 
acquaintance with the marvels of this life, the higher will be our 
hopes of the realities of the next. 

As we explained above (n. 68) the secondary or subordinate 
end of man consists in the attainment of happiness. Of this, 
also called conditional end, we intend now to treat in several 
subsequent chapters. But we must first of all recall to 
our reader's mind a positive, undeniable fact, and that is the 
universal and irresistible tendency of all men to perfect happi- 
ness. 

io Job xv. 25. 



How It can be Infallibly Attained 53 

CHAPTEE IV 

MAN'S CRAVING FOR HAPPINESS 

81. What kind of happiness is in store for man in the world 
to come can be learned only from divine revelation, which alone 
tells us with certainty the design of God's free will in our regard. 
But to show us in the days of our pilgrimage in this land of exile 
how conformable to our nature and its aspirations are the divine 
provision and promise of future bliss, God deigned to implant in 
our mind and in our will an irresistible tendency to happiness ; 
a tendency and yearning, which, as we shall see in Part IV, 
shall be fully gratified in the life to come, when the prophetic 
words of the Royal Psalmist will be verified : "I shall be satis- 
fied when Thy glory, Lord, shall appear. ' ' x 

82. We start our present inquiry by stating an experimental 
fact thoroughly known, universally admitted, and absolutely in- 
contestable. It is the irresistible tendency of every individual 
of the human race to complete, perfect happiness. By happiness, 
beatitude, or bliss all understand a state of perfect contentment. 
When is it that a man is said to be truly happy? When every- 
thing goes well with him under every aspect. When he is free 
from every pain, grief, or displeasure, and finds himself in peace- 
ful possession of all the goods which his heart desires. There 
are of course different degrees of happiness; but this is certain 
that only he is perfectly and fully happy who is free from all 
evils, and in possession of everything he needs for his complete 
gratification, and who enjoys all this in a permanent, lasting man- 
ner. For whosoever fears that some day or other he will forfeit 
the goods he possesses, cannot be called perfectly happy. The 
loss he is afraid of incurring, causes him to resemble the unhappy 
man over whose head hung Damocles' threatening sword. St. 
Augustine wisely remarks : ' ' He alone can be said to be truly 
happy, who has all that he desires, and desires only what is 
good and conformable to reason. ' ' 2 Another quite correct defi- 
nition of a truly happy man has been given by the renowned 
Roman orator and philosopher, Marcus Tullius Cicero: "Ac- 
cording to my belief, he is truly happy who possesses all goods 
with the exclusion of all evils. ' ' 3 The moving power of every 
form of human activity, of every effort and work of man, is 
nothing else but the aspiration to perfect contentment, by the 
elimination of every evil, and the acquisition of every good. 

83. Now a fact so universal as the aspiration to happiness pos- 
tulates a universal, uniform cause, which cannot be anything 
else but the nature itself of man, perfectly identical in every in- 

lPs- xvi. 15 2De Trinit. 1. xiii. 4. s Tusc. v. 10. 



54 The True End of Man 

dividual of the human race. Man's highest faculties are intelli- 
gence and will. These faculties tend by their nature to the full 
possession of their proper objects; namely, truth and goodness. 
Our intellect is capable of knowing not only this or that particu- 
lar truth, but universal truth. Our will possesses a natural 
tendency not only to this, or that particular good, but to good in 
general, in fact to every kind of good. As the intellect is not 
satisfied with reaching finite truth, but aspires to the possession of 
infinite truth, so the will is not contented with obtaining limited 
good, but craves for the unlimited. As we shall see in a subse- 
quent chapter, it is exactly in the possession of all truths and all 
goods that perfect happiness consists. When the human intel- 
lect, as we remarked above, reaches infinite truth, when the human 
will possesses infinite good, and these are insured to them forever, 
then indeed man 's happiness is supreme and his restless soul can 
crave no more. 

As it shall be shown later on, this twofold object is realized 
only in the eternal possession of God Himself, infinite truth and 
infinite good. "Our heart," exclaims St. Augustine, "0 Lord, 
is made for Thee and can find no rest except in Thee." 



CHAPTER V 

GOD DESTINED MAN TO PERFECT HAPPINESS 

84. From the well-established fact demonstrated above of 
men's aspiration to happiness we feel justified in concluding 
that they are all actually destined to perfect happiness, and 
that it is within their power to reach it. For we cannot admit 
in God's realm such an absurdity and contradiction, namely, an 
irresistible tendency toward an object that cannot be reached. 
Man with ^11 his natural impulses and desires is the work of 
God's creative power. If, therefore, the Creator has implanted 
in him a craving for perfect happiness, He has done so because He 
destined him for such happiness, and made it possible for him to 
attain it on the fulfilment of the conditions required and de- 
manded by His infinite wisdom, goodness and justice and by 
the very nature of man. Nothing is more befitting God 's munifi- 
cence and boundless liberality than to make His rational crea- 
tures partake of His own happiness, according to the measure of 
their capacity. Great honor and glory will certainly redound to 
the Lord, as the most generous giver ; but the advantages accruing 
from such divine gifts will all be for the lasting benefit of His 
rational creatures. We have, then, reason to conclude that if 
man is destined to perfect happiness, there must be somewhere an 



How It can be Infallibly Attained 55 

object capable of rendering him perfectly happy. We ask what 
is that object ? 



CHAPTER VI 

NO CREATED GOOD CAN RENDER MAN PERFECTLY 

HAPPY 

85. In the first place this cannot be done by what we designate 
as external goods such as riches, honors, power, fame, or renown. 
They are only means through which interior goods of a superior 
order are secured, and therefore valued only inasmuch as they 
contribute to the well-being and perfection of man. On this 
account they cannot constitute his last end. Moreover, by hap- 
piness we mean a state or condition of interior perfection. 

Notwithstanding all the external goods an individual may hap- 
pen to possess, he himself may have many shortcomings imped- 
ing the enjoyment of happiness. Thus we cannot call a rich 
man happy and deserving of public esteem, if he is ignorant, 
wicked, and immoral. How cheerfully would multimillionaires 
give up half of their fortune, if they could by it recover their 
lost health. All know that no amount of gold can purchase 
intellectual ability, artistic skill, corporal beauty, or virtue. 
Then we must not overlook the fact that to render a man per- 
fectly contented, his happiness must not be ephemeral, precarious, 
and temporary, but enduring and permanent. Nothing of the 
kind can be attributed to external goods, as they may at any 
moment be lost through the action of evildoers, or any other 
adversity. Here it might be said that having excluded external 
goods, we may find our highest bliss in those that are internal, 
intimate to ourselves, whether of the body or of the soul, such 
as sensual gratification, robust health, science, art, or moral 
virtues. 

To illustrate this truth of the utter insufficiency of wealth, 
for instance, to make its possessor happy and contented, a homely 
example is likely to interest American readers, that of the late 
Hetty Green. She was considered to be the richest woman in the 
world, as it may be judged from the sum of $100,000,000 which 
she left at her death. But as we learn from the statements of 
her own son, Mrs. Hetty Green did not get much joy out of life, 
though swimming in wealth. The contrary was her sad experi- 
ence, particularly in her last years. The criminal and fatal at- 
tack of Norcross on Russell Sage left terrors with her that 
never waned. She was tortured by the dread of murder. Hence, 
to hide her identity she flitted from place to place, hiding her- 



56 The True End of Man 

self in cheap boarding houses, as temporary refuges from assas- 
sins. What a sad picture is here presented in contrast to the 
one, which many people imagine to be within the reach of wealth ! 
Poor Hetty Green ! 

86. As to sensual pleasures, they evidently cannot constitute 
man's highest good, because they are common to the brute crea- 
tion, and, if excessively indulged in, would lower him far below 
the irrational animals and ruin his health. Secondly, because 
the highest good is that which can satisfy the better part of our- 
selves, the faculties of the soul, intellect, and will ; a truth per- 
ceived and proclaimed even by the ancient gentile philosopher, 
Plato, who remarked in his Phaedo that man's highest dignity 
consists in the cultivation of his noblest faculties, intelligence 
and free will. And what is said of sensual pleasures can be 
equally said of other corporal goods, such as bodily vigor and 
strength, robust health, beauty, and the like. 

87. Will not art and science constitute the highest good of 
man ? Here we must remember that the true constituent of hap- 
piness must be an object attainable by all men, and not only by 
some privileged individuals. Now how few are those who can 
afford to dedicate themselves to the cultivation of the sciences 
and the arts ? And if they possess the leisure, do they also possess 
the talent or ability absolutely necessary for success ? The Stoics 
held the moral virtues to be the highest good of man. But, how- 
ever praiseworthy such a theory may be, it cannot be admitted, 
for all moral virtues are acquired faculties or habits, which help 
us to well doing. Therefore they are simply means of moral 
activities and cannot constitute man's last end. Therefore per- 
fect happiness cannot be found even in the practice of virtue; 
for God in His wisdom has decreed that virtue should indeed 
merit, but not enjoy perfect happiness in this world. He has 
solemnly pledged Himself to bestow in the next world perfect 
happiness on all who should cultivate Christian virtues and holi- 
ness in this. And, rising higher still, we must say that not even 
the love of God, as may be practised on earth, can be said to be 
the last end of man ; for he that truly loves God, aims, by this 
means, at the perfect love and possession of God ; obtainable not 
in the present, but in the life to come. 

88. But if created goods, taken separately, cannot make man 
perfectly happy, could they not, if put together, accomplish that 
object ? Let us see. In the first place, how is it possible for any 
man to possess at once the combined assemblage of all earthly 
goods? Is not such a supposition contrary to all experience? 
As the old proverb has it : here below there is no rose without its 
thorn. In fact, what do we find, when we reflect on the different 
conditions of men? One may be rich, but deprived of the chief 
means of enjoying his wealth, and that is good health. One may 
be learned, but enjoys no reputation because of his vicious life, 



How It can be Infallibly Attained 57 

and so forth. But the chief reason why created goods cannot 
completely satisfy the aspirations of man, is not their insufficient 
quantity, but it is their quality that is their necessary limitation, 
their perishable nature and inconstancy. 

There are, moreover, radical defects inherent in all earthly 
goods, which no accumulation of them can ever remedy or remove. 
Man 's spiritual faculties are doubtless limited in their scope and 
finite in their power ; yet they crave for an infinite and boundless 
object, which no created being can supply. We feel then justified 
in drawing the following conclusion: Reason, history and the 
experience of nearly six thousand years unite their voices in pro- 
claiming the truth, that perfect happiness cannot be found in this 
world. It certainly cannot be found in creatures, for they were 
not clothed with the power to give it. 

The utter powerlessness of all earthly goods to produce lasting 
happiness and true, substantial joy, will appear still more evident 
if we reflect that they are employed by the Evil One as means by 
which to allure unwary mortals to his standard, the ultimate 
issue of which is short enjoyment and endless suffering. To de- 
tect his fraud, let us see what kind of promises the devil holds 
out to his deluded followers; promises that are most fallacious, 
hollow and treacherous. 

They are fallacious, because he promises felicity and worldly 
goods, which he does not himself possess. In fact, when Satan 
tempted our Divine Saviour in the desert and said to Him, ' ' I will 
give Thee all the kingdoms of the world, if falling down Thou 
wilt adore me, " x he told the biggest lie that was ever uttered, for 
he owns nothing. As the Royal Psalmist says, ' ' The earth is the 
Lord's and the fulness thereof: the world and all that dwell 
therein. ' ' 2 The devil 's promises are hollow, because worldly 
goods and sensual gratifications never yet made a single in- 
dividual happy. Remember Solomon's declaration, "All is 
vanity and vexation of spirit. ' ' 3 They are treacherous, because 
far from producing true happiness, they are, on the contrary, 
the prolific cause of misery, remorse, of the loss of God's friend- 
ship and grace to the soul in this life, and the cause of eternal 
ruin to both soul and body in the next. "At the end of joy 
comes mourning. ' ' 4 

89. The distinguished writer, Msgr. Vaughan, in his book, 
"Earth to Heaven/' suggests another process of reasoning, 
which leads us to the same conclusion. There are three self- 
evident principles or axioms from which we may draw this irref- 
utable consequence, that nothing in this wide world can com- 
pletely gratify the cravings and aspirations of man. 

90. The first principle or axiom may be thus expressed: In 
contemplating the innumerable creatures that surround us, we 
find that, in accordance with the divine ordinance, every being is 

iMatt. iv. 8. 9. 2 p s . xxiii. 1. 3 Eceles. i. 14. ^Prov. xw. 13. 



58 The True End of Man 

made for something greater and higher than itself. Thus all 
inorganic, lifeless matter exists for the sake of the organic. The 
soil of the earth, the water, the air and other components of the 
atmosphere are intended for the support of vegetable life. Dead 
matter becomes a living substance. 

Vegetation, in its turn, is made to subserve and minister to 
the wants of animal life. Purely vegetable life becomes part and 
parcel of sensitive life. 

The endless variety of animals ministers to man, supplying him 
with food, clothing, pleasure, recreation and other comforts in 
a thousand ways. 

The mineral, then, is made for the vegetable ; the vegetable for 
the animal, the animal for man. 

91. And what is man made for? One thing is quite certain: 
he cannot have been made for anything lower and baser than 
himself, for this would be against God's established general law. 
Therefore, whatever his end may be, it must, as in the case of all 
other creatures, be something greater and nobler than himself. 
And what is that? God and He alone. Yes, man is created to 
possess and enjoy God, for in Him alone, as we shall soon see, he 
can find the immense, perfect, endless happiness he is yearning 
after. Consequently man cannot have been made for any earthly 
goods, however excellent in themselves, for they are all immeas- 
urably inferior to him. He must look up, not down, if he would 
discover his true destiny. Sursum Cor da — Let our hearts be 
lifted up on high and sigh for union with God, who is the center 
and source of all goods. 

92. The second, equally incontrovertible principle, is that God 
cannot design a creature for any end without, at the same time, 
supplying it with all that is necessary or requisite to reach that 
end. That end, if conditional, it is true, might not be attained 
if the required condition is not fulfilled ; but it must, at least, be 
made attainable. Applying this principle to any earthly created 
good, such as wealth, honor, high social position, fame, sensual 
pleasures, or any other temporal thing, we find that an immense 
majority of men are deprived of such goods, not because they 
are not striving to reach them, but because the means absolutely 
required to attain them are wanting to them. 

93. Passing now to the third principle, we lay it down as a 
self-evident truism of sound philosophy and common sense, that 
the attainment of the end for which a being is created will 
place that being in a state of absolute contentment, perfect happi- 
ness, and complete rest. Though no argument is needed to prove 
this statement, yet a full demonstration of its truth will be given 
in the following chapter. 

94. Now, to sum up. In order that an object may be rec- 
ognized as man 's true end and his greatest good, it must be first 
above man, that is, superior to him in essence and dignity. Sec- 



How It can be Infallibly Attained 59 

ondly, it must be within easy reach and accessible to every one. 
Thirdly, when once obtained, it must yield content, perfect satis- 
faction, and rest. What does not answer these three conditions 
cannot be man 's highest good and his true end. 

Now, taking the possession of God to be our true end, we find 
that it perfectly realizes the conditions and principles laid down 
above. First, God is infinitely above us. Secondly, all the means 
requisite to secure our last end, the eternal possession of God, 
have been placed by His bountiful providence within our reach. 
No man who sincerely and earnestly strives can fail to obtain 
his end. If he falls short of it, it will be only through his own 
deliberate, wilful fault. Thirdly, this end, once attained, wholly 
satisfies every faculty and desire of the soul, and renders it 
supremely happy, and perfectly contented. We repeat here the 
words of the Psalmist quoted above—' ' Lord, I shall be satisfied, 
when Thy glory shall appear. ' ' 5 



CHAPTEE VII 

IS IT POSSIBLE TO OBTAIN PERFECT HAPPINESS 
ON EARTH? 

If, as we have just seen, no created good, and not even the 
accumulation of all of them, suffices to make us happy, the fore- 
going question has been already practically answered in the nega- 
tive. Yet a further development of this subject cannot fail to 
produce a still deeper conviction in the reader 's mind. 

95. Perfect happiness essentially consists in complete ex- 
emption from all evils, from every defect and sorrow ; and in the 
tranquil possession of every good necessary to satisfy all our 
rational aspirations and desires. Now, the enjoyment of such a 
degree or state of happiness upon earth is an absolute impossi- 
bility. Our intellect aspires to the possession of universal truth. 
A simple fragment of it, attainable in the present life, is far from 
satisfying it. How scanty, how imperfect is all the knowledge 
and science which even the greatest geniuses may master upon 
earth compared to that which man's understanding will be able 
to grasp in the better, future world ! It is like the glimmer of a 
candle compared to the brilliance of the noonday sun. Our 
knowledge of God, infinite truth, is very imperfect, and, in the 
majority of men, mixed with every kind of error. And what 
about the knowledge of ourselves and of the eternal world sur- 
rounding us? Can we say that men have succeeded in master- 
ing it ? When we contemplate, for instance, the marvels of vege- 
tative, animal, and intellectual life, shall we say that modern 

s Ps. xvi. 15. 



60 The True End of Man 

science, assisted by the experience of past ages, can satisfactorily 
explain them, unfold their hidden secrets and lay bare to human 
minds their inmost workings and hidden forces? Not in the 
least. They are more than a match for all scientists, with all 
their boasted progress and parade of learning. Indeed, there is 
not a grain of sand, a drop of morning dew, a particle of dust, 
but contains marvels and mysteries enough to Crush out of men 
all assumption of profound knowledge. Here we are reminded 
of the inspired words from the Book of Ecclesiastes : "And I 
understood that man can find no reason of all those works of God 
that are done under the sun ; and the more he shall labor to seek, 
so much the less shall he find; yea, though the wise man shall 
say, that he knoweth it, he shall not be able to find it." x Of this 
truth, namely, the comparatively small amount of knowledge 
which even the cleverest of men can gather in their lifetime, the 
great astronomer and mathematician, Sir Isaac Newton, was fully 
convinced. He thus speaks on this subject: "In my scientific 
studies and researches I resemble the child who, playing on the 
seashore, rejoices at finding some shell or polished stone, while 
utterly unable to fathom the unexplained depths of the immense 
ocean, that lies before him. ' ' To the deficiency of knowledge in 
the intellectual order must be added man 's still greater deficiency 
in the moral order, which springs from our perverse inclinations. 
Hence the difficulty experienced in holding the rebellious ten- 
dencies of unruly passions subject to the empire of reason and the 
injunctions of Christian faith. 

96. Moreover, if we recall the numberless diseases man is heir 
to, the public and private calamities, the calumnies, wrongs, and 
persecutions men have to endure at the hands of their enemies, 
we are forced to confess that the present world has been truly 
called a valley of tears. But let us suppose the case of some 
favored individual, who has succeeded in amassing a colossal 
fortune, who has risen to the highest social position, who enjoys 
the esteem of thousands of his fellow-citizens. May we say that 
perfect happiness upon earth is fully realized by so privileged 
an individual ? By no means, for sooner or later the cold hand 
of death will overtake him, and in an instant put an end to all his 
enjoyments, and rob him of all the riches he has stored up in his 
lifetime. And if he should unhappily resemble the rich man in 
the Gospel, who, neglecting his duties to his Creator, thought only 
of building greater barns, he will, like him, deserve the awful re- 
buke registered in St. Luke's Gospel: "God said to him; Thou 
fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee, and whose shall 
those things be, which thou hast provided ? " 2 True indeed is the 
description of human life given by the prophet Job — in this 
short, pithy sentence: "Man born of a woman, living for a 
short time, is filled with many miseries." 3 On the tombstone 

i Eccles. viii. 17. 2 Luke xii. 20. 3 Job xiv. 1. 



How It can be Infallibly Attained 61 

of a little child we found this laconic, though correct, inscription : 
1 • In one hour he was born, wept and died. ' ' An abridgment of 
the longest human life. 

97. To illustrate this truth by a most convincing example, if 
ever there was a type of a perfectly successful man, so far as the 
world goes, it was, no doubt, the great and renowned King Solo- 
mon. He was externally surrounded by everything that this 
earth can give. His social position was the very highest to which 
any man can aspire, for he was a mighty king, ruling over a great 
nation. Moreover, he was the wisest of men. No other could 
compare with him in the extent of his knowledge, both acquired 
and supernaturally infused. It is both interesting and instruc- 
tive to hear him tell his own story and the lesson of his experi- 
ence. i ' Whatsoever my eyes desired I refused them not ; and I 
withheld not my heart from enjoying every pleasure — and I saw 
in all things vanity, and vexation of mind, and that nothing was 
lasting under the sun. ' ' 4 

98. If now we turn our gaze to modern philosophers and 
thinkers, we find them in full agreement with the testimony of 
the past. 

Kant writes: "I think that no man of advanced age, with a 
correct idea of the present life, would be disposed to begin it over 
again, if that were in his power. ' ' 5 

Schelling says : ' ' The veil of sadness which covers the whole 
world is the deep and inevitable melancholy of life. ' ' 6 

Count Joseph De Maistre, shortly before his death, wrote: "I 
do not know what the life of scoundrels may be, thank God, I 
was never one of them ; but this much I know that even the life 
of an honest man is something miserable here below. ' ' 

99. This is narrated of the Iron Chancellor, Von Bismarck: 
In 1895 a number of his friends and admirers called on him on 
the occasion of his jubilee, and presented to him their good wishes. 
He replied: "Sirs, I must confess that in my long life, now 
approaching the end, I did not enjoy twenty-four hours of happi- 
ness. The greatest pleasure I experienced was when, in my 
young days, I caught my first hare." We obviously prefer the 
answer of the great Napoleon when asked what was the happiest 
day of his life, the one that afforded him genuine, substantial joy. 
Still inspired in his advanced age by Christian faith, he replied : 
' ' The happiest day of my life was that of my first Communion. ' ' 

We may then rightly conclude, no mortal can ever experience 
complete happiness in the present life. 

*Eccles. ii. 10, 11. ^Vol. vii. p. 393. « Vol. viii. p. 322. 



62 The True End of Man 

CHAPTER VIII 

TRUE, PERFECT, LASTING HAPPINESS IS OBTAINED 

ONLY IN THE BETTER LIFE OF THE 

FUTURE WORLD 

100. As pointed out above (n. 66), goodness led God to create 
rational beings ; and that same goodness willed and decreed that 
those beings should be happy. Hence happiness is inseparable 
from man 's true end. The practice of virtue itself cannot bring 
with it perfect happiness. God in His wisdom disposed that 
virtue should merit happiness, but not enjoy it, at least in the 
present life. As the proverb has it, "A good conscience is the 
best of pillows, " it is true, and a source of greater happiness than 
the world can offer, but it is not the happiness of realization of an 
end finally attained. Rather it is the quiet confidence of the 
traveler who is assured that he is on the right road to his des- 
tination. 

101. As it has been proved in a preceding chapter, man is 
destined by God, his Creator, to perfect happiness. Now, since 
such happiness cannot be found on earth, there must be reserved 
for him, beyond the grave, another life, another world, where all 
his hopes will be realized, and all his cravings fully gratified. 
That man's future life shall never end will be fully proved in the 
third part of this work in the discussion on immortality. There 
must, then, be after death a new life, nay, an eternal life. For 
if the power of death were to extend its empire beyond the tomb, 
no perfect happiness could be enjoyed. Whosoever fears that 
he must, at some future time, forfeit the goods he possesses, can 
never enjoy true happiness, and his grief for its loss would, of 
course, be proportionate to the excellence and greatness of it. At 
the termination of our brief sojourn on earth, we are not to face 
the gloomy prospect of annihilation, but we shall find ourselves 
at the beginning of a new, endless, deathless, perennial existence. 
Such is the cheering prospect assured to us by God's revelation, 
approved by the voice of reason and attested by the general con- 
sent of mankind, as will be shown further on. 

102. Our preceding considerations have gradually and logically 
led us, step by step, to the following affirmations, each duly estab- 
lished in its proper place : 

I. That man has been created with an irresistible tendency to 
happiness. 

II. That the happiness he aspires to is perfect, full, and ever- 
enduring happiness. 

III. That such happiness can be realized and secured only in 
the life to come. 



How It can be Infallibly Attained 63 

IV. That the only being, whose future possession can make 
man perfectly and eternally happy, is God Himself, infinite, ever- 
lasting good. 

V. That God having made us for himself, our happiness and 
blessedness cannot possibly be found in creatures, however ex- 
alted, but must be sought in Him alone. 

103. Here we may further ask, in what will the happiness 
resulting from the possession of God consist? 

As we have already pointed out, a full answer to this question 
can be given only by divine revelation, as the determination of 
the nature and character of heavenly bliss depends entirely on 
God's will. This will He has made known to men through the 
inspired sacred writers and is contained in the deposit of faith 
preserved in its integrity and expounded by the infallible voice 
of God 's Church. An extended statement of this matter is given 
in the second and fourth parts of our work. 

104. Supposing, then, the fact of such explicit revelation, we 
shall find it interesting to see the full accord of the promptings of 
human reason with the oracles of revealed faith. It is scarcely 
necessary to remark that when it is a question of determining 
with certainty the very essence of man 's future happiness in the 
present order of Providence, natural reason, nay, the sublimest 
flights of man's intellect are utterly incompetent guides. Vir- 
gil, the representative of reason, could lead Dante through hell 
and purgatory, but it was for Beatrice, the symbol of the super- 
natural faith, to unfold the beauties and marvels of heaven. 

105. As the angelic doctor, St. Thomas, teaches in the intro- 
duction to his masterpiece, the Summa Theologica, philosophy, 
that is, the science of human reason, deals with those things which 
are knowable by the light of our natural faculties ; whilst theology 
is the science that treats of those things which are chiefly known 
by the light of divine revelation. In Catholic philosophy, then, 
the natural light of reason investigates the highest principles 
naturally known. In Catholic theology the supernatural light 
of faith studies the truths supernaturally revealed. But human 
reason, illumined by faith, can attain a deeper and surer knowl- 
edge of the objects of its own sphere and understand the connec- 
tion, which revealed truths have with one another and with the 
final destiny of man. 

106. Any one fairly acquainted with the character of modern 
speculation in the vast field of religion, must be convinced of the 
fact that the rationalistic tendency so prevalent in our days is, 
of its very nature, subversive of Christianity itself, the divine 
Religion established by Jesus Christ. For one of the most funda- 
mental teachings of that Eeligion is that man was raised to the 
supernatural state, and that therefore man's present destiny, 
being wholly supernatural, lies beyond and above the scope of 
nature, and can be attained only by the use of the means that are 



64 The True End of Man 

wholly supernatural, appointed by the same divine authority that 
destined man to a supernatural end. There will then be the 
needed proportion, demanded by reason itself, between the means 
and the end, for no supernatural end is attainable without the use 
of supernatural means. Therefore any attempt to substitute the 
practice of merely natural virtues for a life of supernatural faith 
is doomed to utter failure, as would be the attempt to cross the 
Pacific Ocean in a frail craft. Let us now see the perfect har- 
mony between the teachings of God 's revelation on man 's destiny 
and the dictates of man 's reason, particularly when illumined by 
the light of Christian faith. 

107. Human reason is evidently finite in its nature; yet its 
capacity for knowledge is practically boundless. It can know all 
that can be known ; for its proper object is not only this or that 
determined, special being, but also being in general. In short, 
all that possesses some kind of existence and truth falls under 
the domain of its knowledge. Moreover, our reason is endowed 
with an inherent tendency to reach the full possession of truth, 
for in truth alone it finds its complete rest. In other words, it 
remains fully satisfied only when reaching the Being that contains 
infinite truth. Such a Being can be no other but God, the first 
truth and fountain-head of all other truths. When possessing 
it reason attains the ultimate limit of its activity, the perfect 
knowledge of its Maker, which completely fills the measure of 
its capacity. 

108. What has been said of man's intelligence must likewise 
be said of man's will, which aspires not only to this or that par- 
ticular good, but to good in general ; there is no good which it 
cannot love, and whose possession it cannot desire. Therefore, 
man's will shall have reached the final object of its aspirations 
and activity only when in full possession of the center and source 
of all goods. But the plenitude of goodness is verified in God 
alone ; therefore, only the full and permanent possession of God 
shall completely satisfy man's will and render him perfectly 
happy. We conclude this chapter with the words of a man 
who became as illustrious by the holiness of his life as he was 
distinguished by the loftiness of his genius, the holy doctor St. 
Augustine. In response to the natural craving for happiness, he 
first strove to find it in earthly gratifications, in the pursuit of 
honor, glory, and worldly renown ; but he there sought it in vain. 
Moved by divine grace, like the prodigal son of the Gospel, he 
directed his steps toward his heavenly Father's Home. Then, 
full of true substantial joy, he exclaimed : "0 Lord, Thou hast 
created me for Thee, and my heart can find no peace, no happi- 
ness, except in Thee." 

109. When we reflect on the bright, lofty destiny that awaits 
us in the life to come, our faith nearly wavers, as such a prospect 
seems altogether too good to be true. But what is our warrant 



How It can be Infallibly Attained 65 

for our expectation of such happiness ? Is it not the solemn as- 
surance, the very word of Him who died to purchase for us such 
untold bliss? "Be glad and rejoice," says Jesus Christ in His 
Gospel, ' ' for your reward is very great in heaven. ' ' x Hence we 
know with absolute certainty that we have been created and re- 
deemed for the eternal possession and enjoyment of God Himself, 
who, thousands of years ago, thus spoke to Abram, the father of 
all believers: "Fear not, Abram, I am thy protector, and thy 
reward exceeding great. ' ' 2 

God's omnipotence made us from nothing; His infinite wisdom 
proposed to us an end, as a definite purpose of our earthly exist- 
ence ; His boundless goodness and providence supply us in abund- 
ance with all the necessary faculties, conditions and means for 
securing that end. Hence, as divine faith teaches and reason 
confirms, there exists a Being really and truly productive of per- 
fect happiness, and that is God Himself, and the attainment of 
that happiness has been placed well within the reach of every 
man. 

110. Happiness, then, consists in reaching our last end, which 
includes the gratification of all our rational desires. "We seek to 
be always, permanently, supremely, and eternally happy; and 
this ardent wish God alone, supreme, everlasting good, can and 
will entirely fulfil. 

The capacity of both intellect and will in man are so vast, so 
comprehensive, that it is absolutely impossible for earthly goods 
to satisfy them. In fact, all that man can know and will in this 
world, compared to what he will know and possess in the next, is 
less than a grain of sand compared to a mountain, or a drop of 
water compared to an ocean. 

111. But how is it that, notwithstanding the bright prospects 
held out to us by Christian faith, so many are found sad, miser- 
able, and discontented ? It is because they seek happiness where 
happiness does not exist. As the Gospel tells us: "Do men 
gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles ? " 3 Some fancy that 
happiness is to be sought in pleasures and amusements, in the 
indulgence of the senses, in every species of comfort and refine- 
ments. Such individuals, far from having overtaken happiness, 
have, on the contrary, driven it farther and farther from their 
reach. They will sooner or later discover that they have blasted 
and deadened their senses, clouded their intellect, and dulled 
their mental faculties by excessive indulgence. With their hearts 
filled with sorrow, regrets, and gnawing remorse, too cowardly to 
retrace their steps by true repentance, they go down to their 
grave diseased, dishonored, and victims of black despair. Surely 
he entirely forgets his high dignity and noble estate who stoops 
to slake the insatiable thirst for happiness in the muddy, dirty 
waters of sinful gratifications. 

iMatt. v. 12. 2 Genes, xv. 1. 3 Matt vii 16 



66 The True End of Man 

The essential distinctions between the goods of this life and 
those of the next are chiefly two. The first is given by St. Paul : 
"While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the 
things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are 
temporal ; but the things which are not seen are eternal. ' ' 4 

The second distinction consists in this, that, whilst earthly 
goods can never fully satisfy us, the heavenly ones do. And this 
is precisely what our Blessed Saviour meant when He thus spoke 
to the Samaritan woman: "Whosoever drinketh of this water 
[that of Jacob s well drunk by the cattle as well as by men] shall 
thirst again ; but he that shall drink of the water that I will give 
him, shall not thirst forever; but the water that I will give 
him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into 
life everlasting. ' ' 5 

Here some one might ask: How are we to reconcile Christ's 
words just cited from the Gospel with those of the inspired 
author of Ecclesiasticus, which seem to convey a contradictory 
idea. Divine Wisdom says : ' ' They that eat me, shall yet hun- 
ger ; and they that drink me, shall yet thirst. ' ' 6 There can be, of 
course, no contradiction in God's word whether announced by 
God's inspired writer in the Old Testament, or proclaimed by 
God's own Son in the New. Both texts evidently refer to the 
bliss of the next life. Our Blessed Saviour by referring to the 
two kinds of water, that of Jacob's well and His own, meant to 
impress this great truth, that whosoever would drink the water 
springing up into life everlasting, and thereby reach the bliss of 
the beatific vision, would be perfectly satisfied with the joys of 
heaven, and will no longer thirst for those of earth. 

The words of Ecclesiasticus evidently refer likewise to the de- 
lights caused by the beatific vision; and the blessed that will 
enjoy it "shall yet thirst" in this sense, that, as the Abbot St. 
Bernard explains, the elect will be so gladdened by the sight of 
God as always to desire to continue to enjoy it : for instead of pro- 
ducing in them satiety and surfeit, as it is done by earthly goods, 
it will excite in them perpetually a new desire of seeing Him and 
enjoying Him. 
112. 

1 ' True happiness is not the growth of earth, 

The soil is fruitless, if you seek it there, 

'Tis an erotic of celestial birth, 

And never blossoms but in celestial air. 

Sweet plant of Paradise! Its seeds are sown 

In here and there, a breast of heavenly mould. 

It rises slow, and buds, but ne'er was known 

To blossom here — the climate is too cold." 

— R. B. Sheridan. 

*2 Corinth, iv. 18. 5 John iv. 13, 14. « Eccles. xxiv. 29. 



How It can be Infallibly Attained 67 

CHAPTER IX 
THE CHIEF SCOPE OF OUR EARTHLY PILGRIMAGE 

113. More than three thousand and six hundred years ago our 
sojourn here below was called a pilgrimage by the holy patriarch 
Jacob, when to King Pharao, who had asked him his age, he gave 
this answer: "The days of my pilgrimage are a hundred and 
thirty years few and evil. ' ' * An expression which evidently im- 
plies the thought of a final goal to be reached at the end of the 
pilgrim's journey. Hence St. Paul writes: "We have not here 
a lasting city, but we seek one that is to come. ' ' 2 

Our life journey, then, upon earth is a period of probation or 
preparation for a future one. In other words, time is for 
eternity. A perfect happiness awaits us beyond the grave, an 
everlasting abode, where man's soul will enjoy tranquil possession 
of all goods, perfect gladness, and unruffled peace. The cheer- 
ing promise of the inspired writer will then be fulfilled. ' ' And 
God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes ; and death shall 
be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any 
more, for the former things are passed away. ' ' 3 

114. We come now to a most pertinent practical inquiry, and 
it is this : What should man do to secure that perfectly happy 
eternal life? What is the mighty task which he is expected to 
accomplish during his brief pilgrimage on earth ? Nearly twenty 
centuries ago this identical question was put by an earnest in- 
quirer to the world's Saviour, God's incarnate Son, on the plains 
of Palestine. Both that question and its answer we possess to- 
day in the pages of the Gospel : 

1 ' Behold one came and said to Him : Good Master, what good 
shall I do that I may have life everlasting ? Who said to Him : 
If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." 4 

115. It seems that we could scarcely be blamed if, supported, 
as we are, by the authority of the Divine Master, who gave that 
answer, we should close this chapter by simply requesting our 
readers frequently to recall that momentous question and conform 
their conduct to its answer. But a few additional reflections will 
not be out of place, as they may induce some spiritually negligent 
readers to give more than a passing thought to truths, on the 
knowledge and practice of which their eternal happiness depends. 
It is highly important for us to remember that Almighty God, as 
a most wise and benevolent Father, besides preparing for His 
children a happy home with Him and His angels in heaven, has 
also provided for the welfare of His numerous family upon earth. 

iQen. xlvii. 9. 2 Heb. xiii. 14. s Apoc. xxi. 4 4 Matt. xix. 16, 17. 



68 The True End of Man 

Now what is it that constitutes the very essence of the well-being 
of society in general and of its individual members in particular ? 
It is the carrying out into practice the short, pithy injunction 
laid down by the Lord through His royal prophet: "Decline 
from evil and do good. ' ' 5 The pursuit of virtue and the shun- 
ning of vice, the cultivation of justice and the hatred of iniquity, 
such are the constituent elements of all true happiness, both of 
individuals and of nations. In this connection we may here ap- 
propriately quote the words of the distinguished convert, Orestes 
Brownson: "What, then, is true national greatness? We an- 
swer, that nation is greatest in which man may most easily and 
effectually follow the true and proper end of man. The nation 
is in the people. Its greatness must, then, be in the greatness of 
the people. The people are a collection or aggregation of 
individuals. Consequently the greatness of a nation is the 
greatness of the individuals that compose it. The question of 
national greatness resolves itself, therefore, into the question of 
individual greatness. The greatness of the individual consists 
in his fulfilling the great end of his existence, the end for which 
Almighty God made him and placed him here. Hence no man is 
truly great who neglects life 's great end. ' ' 6 

116. Therefore, in the eyes of God, in accordance with the 
principles of revealed Faith and the dictates of sound reason 
itself, what constitutes man's true greatness in any sphere of 
knowledge, in any branch of science, in any social position or pro- 
fessional career, is not worldly or any temporal achievement, but 
the conscientious discharge of his duties to God, to himself, and 
to his fellow-men. As we read in Ecclesiastes : "Fear God, 
and keep His commandments ; for this is all man. ' ' 7 And the 
same divine authority teaches us the same truth regarding the 
nations. It is not the extent of their domains, the multitude of 
their subjects, colossal wealth, their world-wide commercial 
transactions, a mighty army and a powerful navy, that form 
their true greatness, but justice in their dealings with men at 
home, and other people abroad; a legislation inspired by and 
based on Christian principles, the abolition of public acts and 
practices against Christian morality. This is the truth conveyed 
to us by that striking passage of Holy Writ : ' ' Justice exalteth 
a nation; but sin maketh nations miserable." 8 

Obviously what the sacred writer says of a whole nation can 
be applied to its individual members. Abolish virtue, remove all 
restraint from sin, and you at once put an end to all peace, 
tranquillity, order, and happiness of men here and hereafter. 

117. But on the contrary, so long as the divine precept of 

shunning evil and doing good is acted upon by civil societies and 

their members, order, prosperity, and happiness are secured. 

s Ps. xxxvi. 27. s National Greatness, vol. xv. p. 525. i Eccles. xii. 13. 
sProv. xiv. 34. 



How It can be Infallibly Attained 69 

Moreover, whilst a life of order, integrity, and virtue prepares 
and fits man for his happy destiny in the world to come, it never 
fails to obtain for him, at the same time, the highest degree of 
happiness possible in this. Of the Catholic Church, divinely 
authorized to enforce God 's command of avoiding evil and doing 
good, it has been said that while she seems exclusively engaged in 
preparing men for the happiness of heaven, she fosters in the 
highest degree the attainment of their happiness upon earth. 
Plato wrote : " If a state is governed by men, who trample upon 
justice, it has no means of security. ' ' 9 But a far greater author- 
ity, that of the inspired prophet, says: "The nation and the 
kingdom that will not serve Thee, Lord, shall perish. ' ' 10 

And what is the lesson of history in this regard? Professor 
Rawlinson, the distinguished author of "Ancient Monarchies," 
Schlegel in his "Philosophy of History," and even the infidel 
Gibbon in his "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," are 
fully agreed in attributing the gradual decadence and total ruin 
of ancient nations to idolatry and moral corruption. St. Augus- 
tine, in his famous book, De Civitate Dei, and Bossuet in his 
able ' ' Essay on Universal History, ' ' thoroughly discuss this ques- 
tion and draw the same conclusion. 

118. It cannot, then, be said that God grants to men their 
earthly life for this object only, that during it they may have 
nothing else to do but wait for forthcoming eternity. This is an 
impossible supposition directly contrary to divine wisdom and 
justice. Hence God has assigned to all rational creatures the 
laborious task of earnest preparation for the life eternal, which 
awaits them beyond the grave. This is the purpose proposed to 
all human creatures, to every individual of the human race, to 
the monarch on the throne, as well as to his lowest subject. 

The final direction of man's acts, as human acts, so that they 
shall conform to God's standard of right and wrong, rests ulti- 
mately on the individual himself. When the moral life is con- 
cerned, he and he alone must take control; he cannot delegate 
his task to others. Therefore, if he would voyage without ship- 
wreck into eternity, he cannot, except at his peril, neglect the 
knowledge of his true destiny. 

119. Men may be poor and weary with work ; they may live in 
the slums and often have insufficient to eat ; they may be among 
the outcasts and beggars of this miserable world. Does that 
matter, if they are nevertheless reckoned among God's darlings, 
destined to the inconceivable, captivating delights of the heavenly 
kingdom? They may be robbed of all their rights, but no one 
can rob them of their heavenly inheritance except themselves. 
When we look at an ill-clad, impecunious laboring man, begrimed 
with dirt and weary with toil, it may be difficult to realize the 
fact that he is in very truth an adopted child of God, with all 

» De Leg. vol. viii. io Is. lx. 12. 



70 The True End of Man 

the rights and privileges of a son, earned and secured to him by 
the passion and death of his Redeemer ; and that one day, if he 
does not throw away his chances by sin and disobedience, he will 
be actually received into the palace of the Lord of the universe, 
to enjoy the happiness of which St. Paul says: "That eye has 
not seen, nor ear heard, nor man's heart conceived what God 
has prepared for those that love Him." lx 

120. Man is essentially free, and must, conformably to his 
nature, freely tend to the attainment of his last end. Irrational 
beings are led to their end by an intrinsic necessity, by blind in- 
stinct and irresistible forces. Unable to recognize and worship 
their Creator they are incapable of merit or demerit ; hence their 
existence ends here. It cannot be so with man, for, endowed as 
he is with liberty, he can freely direct the acts of his intellect and 
will, in fact, all his deliberate operations to the knowledge, serv- 
ice, and love of his Maker, and thus merit the possession of 
heavenly bliss, the final scope of his earthly existence. It is, 
therefore, not a matter of indifference for man to live in this or 
that fashion, for not every kind of life brings him to his last end. 
Holy Writ warns us against a possible fatal illusion on this 
head : ' ' There is a way which seemeth just to man ; but the ends 
thereof lead to death. ' ' 12 Here we are also reminded by Christ 
Himself of the two ways, one broad and the other narrow, of 
which one leads to perdition, the other to life eternal. "Enter 
ye at the narrow gate ; for wide is the gate and broad is the way 
that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. 
How narrow is the gate and strait the way that leadeth to life; 
and few there are that find it. ' ' 13 

To avoid such fatal shipwreck we must firmly adhere to the 
guidance of Him who said in His Gospel : "I am the way and 
the truth, and the life. " 14 As if He said to each one of us : "I 
am the way by My examples, the truth by My teachings and the 
life by My grace. ' ' 

121. Lastly, it is not becoming God's wisdom and justice to 
allow His rational creatures to treat life eternal as an object of 
little or no value, as if it could be obtained without any effort or 
co-operation on their part. On the contrary, divine wisdom and 
justice demanded that it should be promised to man as a crown 
of successful conflicts, as the reward of his loyalty and submis- 
sion to the most wise and just commands of His Sovereign Lord 
and Supreme Benefactor. By so doing God, whilst respecting in 
man the freedom granted to him, richly recompenses the spon- 
taneous homage of his heart. The Lord, then, has decreed that 
perfect happiness in the world to come shall be bestowed on con- 
dition of man 's doing God 's will in this. 

n 1 Cor. ii. 9. See also Is. lxiv. 4. 13 Matt. vii. 13, 14. 

12 Prov. xiv. 12. I* John xiv, 6. 



Mow It can be Infallibly Attained 71 

CHAPTEK X 

THE RIGHT WAY TO ETERNAL HAPPINESS 

122. It has been shown that Almighty God requires that man 
should, in the present world, prepare himself for the eternal life 
and happiness which await him in the future. It has also been 
pointed out in a general way that this preparation essentially con- 
sists in conforming his moral conduct to the will of his Maker; 
a will manifested to him by the light of reason and the far 
brighter light of divine revelation. That this is a stern, un- 
deniable obligation, binding all men, no one can deny. Yet how 
many, alas, neglect it altogether! What a contrast do we see 
between man's conduct and the examples of the Saviour of the 
world proposed to all mankind as their model: "And a voice 
came out of the cloud, saying : This is my beloved Son, hear ye 
Him." 1 

123. As Cardinal Newman writes : "If there was one amongst 
the sons of men who might allowably have taken his pleasure and 
have done his own will here below, surely it was He who came 
down on earth from the bosom of the Father and who was so 
pure and spotless in the human nature which He put on Him, 
that he could have no human purpose or aim inconsistent with 
the will of His Father; yet the Son of God, the Eternal Word, 
came not to do His own will, but His who sent Him. Hence in 
His agony He cried out: 'Not my will but Thine be done.' " 2 
After such an example what excuse can sinners allege to justify 
or palliate their resistance to God's will by the transgression of 
His commands? 

A detailed answer to the question, what kind of preparation is 
needed to secure man 's magnificent destiny, will be given in the 
two last chapters of this first part of our work. At present we 
confine our readers' attention to such leading principles as will 
contribute to our purpose. 

124. The whole duty of man regarding his supernatural des- 
tiny may be summed up in this brief statement: Man must 
fit and prepare himself for life eternal by serving God, his Crea- 
tor and Supreme Benefactor, by accomplishing His holy will ; in 
short, by living a holy, virtuous life. We say a holy, virtuous 
life, for no homage, no worship can be pleasing to God, and be 
therefore available for salvation which is not accompanied by a 
tenor of life comformable to the divine commands; a condition 
clearly expressed by the world's Redeemer, who says in His 
Gospel : ' ' You are My friends, if you do the things that I com- 
mand you. ' ' 3 

i Luke ix. 35. 2 Luke xxii. 42. 3 John xv. 14. 



72 The True End of Man 

125. This preparation for eternal life, which God exacts from 
every rational creature enjoying the use of reason, must, of 
course, be something placed within the reach of his ability. Now 
what is it that is always in the power of man? Evidently the 
right use of the freedom of his will, the fulfilment of Gods will, 
in short, a virtuous, upright life, a moral conduct in harmony 
with the divine law. All external goods, such as an exalted social 
position, honor, reputation, wealth, etc., may be lost against our 
will, and it may not be possible for us to regain them. And as to 
other goods of the body and of the soul, such as health, corporal 
vigor aud strength, keen intelligence, the acquisition of science, 
and the mastery of this or that art, they are often placed beyond 
our reach. Virtue alone, the keeping of God's commands, is 
always and everywhere in our power, because it depends on our 
own free will. Hence in it alone consists the preparation for 
heaven, which God demands of His rational creatures. There- 
fore the legitimate use of man's liberty consists in so directing 
his operations as will fit him for the attainment of his super- 
natural end. 

126. This way of acting agrees perfectly with the following 
excellent definition of human liberty given by a French author, 
whose name I was unable to trace : 

"Eire libre, c'est faire ce qu'on veut, en faisant ce qu'on 
doit." — "To be free is to do what one wills, whilst doing what 
one ought to do." 

The possibility for man to keep God's holy law, with the help of 
divine grace promised and given to all in answer to prayer, is a 
very old truth, of which the prophet Moses reminded his people 
by the following encouraging language: "This commandment, 
that I (the Lord thy God) command thee this day, is not above 
thee, nor far off from thee. But the word is very very nigh 
unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayst do 
it." 4 

127. For the reason alleged above, we cannot here describe in 
detail all that a virtuous life implies. It is enough, however, to 
recall the universally admitted fact that all men enjoying the 
normal function of their intellectual faculties know the distinc- 
tion between good and evil, virtue and vice, right and wrong; 
consequently between an orderly and a disorderly life. Guided 
by this criterium they divide human creatures into two large 
classes, the good and the bad, the just and the wicked. Though 
in some particular cases there might be some difference as to the 
practical application of moral principles, yet all are agreed in 
distinguishing the good from the bad, the virtuous from the vi- 
cious. All men then admit two kinds of morality, two ways of 
life, the way of virtue and the way of vice, the life of the just 

4Deut. xxx. 11, 14. 



How It can be Infallibly Attained 73 

and that of sinners. In other words, they know full well the dis- 
tinction between the observance and the transgression of God's 
holy law. 5 

128. If we ask the reason why men, whether civilized or bar- 
barous, are quite correct in making the distinction pointed out 
above, we find that it lies in the fact that the Ten Commandments 
given to the Israelites on Mount Sinai, are but the external ex- 
pression of the natural law, a reflection of the eternal wisdom, 
which the Sovereign Creator has engraved upon the souls of 
men, and which their conscience practically applies. Reproduc- 
ing the lucid doctrine of Aquinas, St. Alphonsus Liguori writes 
as follows : ' ' There is a twofold rule governing human actions, 
one remote and the other proximate. The remote or material 
rule is the law of God ; the proximate personal rule is the con- 
science of man. For although conscience must conform itself 
in all things to the law of God, the goodness and badness of 
human actions are known to us only in so far as conscience takes 
cognizance of them. ' ' 6 

129. Here we ask what is the kind of life which should be 
looked upon as the preparation which God requires of man in 
order to crown him with the reward of endless happiness ? The 
answer is not far to seek. As will be shown farther on by ap- 
posite testimonies, the universal sentiment of mankind is that 
virtue alone, the observance of God's law, submission to His holy 
will, furnishes a sure guarantee of final recompense. Man, at 
the termination of his earthly life, will find that the essential dis- 
tinction between good and evil, a distinction which he could not 
ignore, will be inevitably acted upon. Virtue will infallibly re- 
ceive its reward ; and sin will with equal certainty meet with its 
punishment. This will be the irrevocable verdict to be pro- 
nounced by the Supreme Judge, from whose piercing eye noth- 
ing can be hidden, and from whose sentence there will be no 
appeal. 

130. But the traditional, universal belief of a forthcoming 
judgment was to receive a far more precise expression from the 
Christian revelation, which proclaims to men the salutary doc- 
trine of the two judgments to come ; the particular held for each 
departed soul immediately after death, and the general on the 
last day for all mankind. 

The former is that announced by St. Paul: "It is appointed 
unto man once to die, and after this the judgment. ' ' 7 

Immediately after death, as the soul appears at God's judg- 
ment-seat in the full, untrammeled exercise of its faculties, mem- 
ory, intellect, and will, it is forced to acknowledge to itself that 
in all its earthly life, it never did evil in thought, word, or deed 

s See Catholic Moral Teachings and Its Advantages, by Joseph Mans- 
bach, Xew York. 1914, p. 131. eh. "The Law of God and Conscience." 
6 Theol. Mor i, T. ' Heb. ix. 27. 



74 The True End of Man 

but it might have refrained from doing it, and might have done 
good instead. It will therefore confess that every act of evil 
was a free act, an irrational and immoral abuse of liberty. When 
the soul is summoned by death to God's judgment, though it 
does not see the person of the Judge, yet it feels the presence and 
action of an extraordinary power, the power of Divine Omnip- 
otence, whose sentence is to decide, irrevocably, the soul's eternal 
destination according to Holy Writ : " It is easy before God in 
the day of death to reward every one according to his ways." 8 
The judgment is instantaneous and the final verdict is made 
known to the souls that, recognizing the justice of the sentence, 
whatever it be, will be compelled to repeat David's words: 
''Thou art just, Lord, and Thy judgment is right." 9 

131. The truth of the doctrine we have just stated concerning 
man's accountability to the Divine Judge and the consequent 
retribution according to the character of his earthly deeds, 
whether good or evil, is guaranteed by God's goodness, justice, 
and holiness. As reason tells us, whoever intends to reach some 
particular end must employ the means leading to it. God has 
placed man upon this earth that he might serve and glorify Him. 
Now such a purpose cannot be effected by a sinful life, by re- 
bellion against Him, by a conduct that will mar, disfigure, or 
even utterly efface God's image from his soul. It is therefore 
God's will that man should abandon the broad way of iniquity 
and pursue the narrow path of virtue. The Archangel Raphael 
uttered a great truth when he said to holy Tobias and his son: 
"Alms maketh to find mercy and life everlasting. But they 
that commit sin and iniquity, are enemies to their own soul. ' ' 10 

132. God's wisdom and omnipotence have ordered and dis- 
posed all things in measure and number and weight. 11 Shall 
man be the only exception? Shall he alone remain lawless and 
purposeless in this world? All creatures are under the reign of 
law? Shall man alone have no order to keep, no ordinance to 
follow? Such a thing would be directly contrary to the wis- 
dom and sanctity of God. Now the order man is subject to 
consists in his submission to the divine will, which can be accom- 
plished only by a holy, virtuous life. God, therefore, exacts 
from man that he should freely pursue a life of virtue and thus 
merit the promised crown of everlasting bliss. 

sEcclus. xi. 28. io Tob. xii. 9, 10; Psal. x. 6. 

» Ps. cxviii. 137. 1X Wis. xi. 21. 



How It can be Infallibly Attained 75 



CHAPTEE XI 

THE DOCTRINE OF DIVINE REVELATION ON THE 
LAST, SUPERNATURAL END OF MAN 

133. We must preface this chapter with two brief remarks. 
In the first place, we freely admit that, abstracting from the 
fact that man has been raised to the supernatural state, we could, 
by reason alone, prove that God would provide for man 's purely 
natural state an object capable of satisfying all our natural as- 
pirations and desires. But our elevation to the supernatural 
state is a cheering event, which it is impossible to deny. (See 
D. Palmieri and Cardinal Mazzella, "De Deo Creante," where 
they treat of the possibility of man's purely natural state in an- 
other order of Providence. See also Ad. Tanquery in his 
"Brevior Synopsis," p. 312.) 

Now to tell what that new supernal order or state implies, in 
other words, to determine in what man's present happiness in 
the next world will precisely consist, we must consult the oracles 
of divine revelation, and this for the best of reasons. The spe- 
cial nature or essence of that happiness and of the several enjoy- 
ments of the soul after death, and of the body after its resurrec- 
tion, evidently depends on the decrees of God's will. Therefore, 
the information must come from Himself, and we possess it in the 
special announcement, which He vouchsafed to make to mankind 
in this regard. 

Secondly, at this point of our investigations we simply state 
in general the essential constituents of heavenly, supernatural 
happiness ; for a detailed account of that bliss will be appropri- 
ately considered in the fourth part of our book in the chapters 
treating of the remunerative sanction of both soul and body, 
according to the teachings of revealed faith. 

The root evil of human life is the attributing of a false value 
to this present world. This is fully repaired by the teachings 
of divine faith in a real hereafter, which enables us to look at 
this life in its true light as a passage to the next, where all ac- 
counts will be evenly balanced, and justice shall be done to all 
human beings according to their deeds. 

134. This teaching or doctrine is embodied in Holy Scripture 
and tradition, preserved in their substantial integrity and in- 
fallibly interpreted by the Catholic Church; a truth demon- 
strated in numberless apologetic and theological works, written 
in every language spoken by man, and placed within the reach 
of all who care to consult them. 

The Vatican Council, held in Rome in the year 1870, speaks 
thus : "It must be said that supernatural revelation was abso- 



76 The True End of Man 

lutely necessary, since God, through His infinite goodness, de- 
creed to destine man to a supernatural end ; that is, to a par- 
ticipation of divine goods, surpassing entirely the natural 
strength of the human mind; for as both a prophet and an 
apostle assure us: 'Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor man's 
heart conceived what God has prepared for those that love 
Him. ' " 1 

Besides the authoritative pronouncement of the Vatican Coun- 
cil, we possess other explicit, infallible definitions on the sub- 
ject at issue. 

t The Supreme Pontiff, Benedict XII (A. D. 1336) speaks thus: 
"With this Constitution with apostolic authority we define that 
the blessed, even before resuming their bodies, and before the 
general judgment, see the Divine Essence by an intuitive vision 
and face to face. By virtue of this vision and fruition of the 
Divine Essence, the theological virtues of faith and hope will 
totally cease; and this vision and fruition shall continue with- 
out any interruption till the final judgment and after it for all 
eternity." 2 

The Council of Florence (A. D. 1439) defined the same truth 
as follows: "The souls of those who, after baptism, did not 
incur any spot of sin, and of those who, after committing sin, 
were purified in life and by purgatorial pains, are immediately 
received in heaven, and there they clearly behold God, as He 
is, one and triune with a perfection proportionate to each one's 
merits. ' ' 3 

135. The preceding authoritative documents teach us that the 
essential beatitude of heaven consists in the intuitive vision or 
sight of God. The blessed saints and angels are enabled to par- 
take of this vision by means of the light of glory, which, as 
the renowned theologian Leonard Lessius explains, is a supreme 
irradiation and participation of that light, by which God sees 
Himself, and by which the Creature's intelligence is raised to a 
divine state, and becomes, so to speak, godlike. The primary 
object of the beatific vision, (happy-making sight) is God Him- 
self and whatever is formally contained in Him ; namely, the di- 
vine essence and attributes and the Three Divine Persons, as is 
fully explained in Part IV. 

136. The secondary object of the beatific vision, as theologians 
tell us, is what is contained in God eminenter ; that is, in a most 
perfect manner, namely, the wonders of creation, so imperfectly 
known in this world, even by the most learned scientists. 

The accidental beatitude of heaven will be derived principally 
from the reunion of the blessed soul to the risen glorified body. 
Hence the happiness of the elect, after the last resurrection, will 
be increased both extensively and intensively; extensively, inas- 

i Is. lxiv. 4 ; 1 Cor. ii. 9 ; D. Enchiridion, p. 474. 

2 D. Enchiridion, p. 216. 3 Ibid., p. 236. 



How It can be Infallibly Attained 77 

much as it will be shared by the body as well as by the soul; 
intensively, because the glorification of the body will redound 
to the greater delight of the soul. 

137. What we have just stated clearly shows that our Divine 
Lord, through an act of infinite liberality and munificence truly 
worthy of Him, has destined us to a far higher happiness than 
we could ever claim, a participation of a beatitude that im- 
mensely surpasses our natural capacity, as well as that of any 
creature which He might bring into existence. 

Our Blessed Redeemer, through His passion and death, re- 
stored to us the right to the heavenly inheritance and the beatific 
vision, and merited for us all the means of grace necessary for 
the attainment of our supernatural end. Having accomplished 
the work of redemption, He returned to His heavenly Father to 
prepare a place for the children of redeemed humanity. This 
much is contained in His joyful promise recorded in St. John's 
Gospel: "Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in 
God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house there are many 
mansions, I go to prepare a place for you. I will come again, 
and will take you to Myself; that where I am, you also may 
be." 4 

But before ascending into heaven, Christ transferred and en- 
trusted His divine mission to the Church He founded, charging 
her with the task of announcing to men His doctrine and of ap- 
plying to them the merits of redemption through the channels of 
grace, the sacraments He had instituted, thus leading them to the 
attainment of their last, supernatural end, everlasting bliss. 

138. To borrow the words of Father Peter Finlay in his re- 
cent book, "The Church of Christ," some may ask: "But will 
the Catholic Church oe always faithful to her mission? Will 
she carry out the purpose of her Founder? Will she, above 
all, continue to hold and to teach unerringly the dogmatic and 
moral truths which He revealed, and on which Christianity, its 
faith, its moral life, its embodiment in a visible society depend ? ' ' 
We answer : Our surest guarantee and pledge is Christ 's solemn 
promise made to the visible Head of the Church, His first Vicar 
and representative, St. Peter: "Thou art Peter and upon this 
rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not pre- 
vail against it. ' ' 5 Then addressing all His apostles, the first 
teaching members of His Church, and, in their persons, their 
future legitimate successors, He said : ' ' Behold, I am with you 
all days, even to the consummation of the world. ' ' 6 "I will 
give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall 
not be able to resist and gainsay. ' ' 7 

Christ's Church being then infallible in what she holds and 
teaches as divinely revealed, and as we can recognize with cer- 
* John xiv.- 1. 2, 3 s Matt, xvi. 18. e Matt, xxviii. 20. 

7 Luke xxi. 15, 



78 The True End of Man 

tainty among existing religious bodies, the true Church of Christ, 
then all difficulties of belief are at an end, or, at any rate, easily 
solved. This subject will be fully developed farther on. 



CHAPTER XII 

THE ONLY IMPEDIMENT TO MAN'S ATTAINMENT OF 
HIS LAST END 

139. The heavenly appointed Teacher of divine truth, our Re- 
deemer, Jesus Christ, who came upon earth to deliver to men the 
message of salvation, in His Sermon on the Mount proclaimed 
to the whole world, for all ages to come, the necessary and abso- 
lutely indispensable means or condition for securing eternal hap- 
piness in the following clear terms: "Not every one that saith 
to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but 
he that doth the will of My Father, who is in heaven, he shall 
enter into the kingdom of heaven. ' ' * 

140. The natural law engraved on man's mind, the positive 
divine law expressed in the Ten Commandments, the teachings 
of God's Church, tell us in the clearest language in what the di- 
vine will consists. From this fundamental principle naturally 
follows this consequence. As only one thing is absolutely neces- 
sary for man to obtain his last happy end, eternal life, and 
that is the fulfilment of God's will by the observance of the 
divine commandments, so only one thing can prevent him from 
reaching that end, and that is the resistance, rebellion to the 
divine will by the transgression of those commandments, by the 
commission of grievous, mortal sin, which separates the sinner 
from God and makes him His enemy. 

141. The modern so-called ethical school does not speak of sin. 
Christian Scientists, so-called, have abolished its name and even 
denied its very existence; hence any talk on this subject is ta- 
booed. The proud man, who makes an idol of himself, hates to 
admit any guilt in his conduct. He resembles the haughty 
Pharisee of old, who, instead of imploring from God mercy and 
forgiveness for his own sins, thanks the Lord for not being like all 
other people, full of iniquity, adulterers, extortioners, and 
thieves. Can these voluntary aberrations save men from in- 
curring the consequences of unforgiven sin? 

142. To disabuse sinners of such fatal misconception, we need 
but remind them of the divine warnings registered in Holy Writ. 
St. Paul, speaking of the inveterate sinner who offers an obstinate 
resistance to the spirit of God, says: "It is a fearful thing to 
fall into the hands of the living God.' ,2 "The death of the 

iMatt. vii. 21: Luke vi. 46, 49. 2 Heb. x. 31. 



How It can be Infallibly Attained 79 

wicked is very evil," writes the Royal Prophet. 3 And the words 
of the Archangel Raphael to holy Tobias remind us of the same 
salutary truth. "They that commit sin and iniquity are en- 
emies to their own soul. " * So it is indeed. For by the com- 
mission of sin men run the awful risk of being overtaken by 
death in that fatal state, and thus incurring the irretrievable 
damnation of their souls ; the awful evil, which neither the power 
of all the devils in hell, nor the malice of all the wicked men 
of earth would be able to inflict upon him. 

"If a man seek not Jesus, he does himself more harm than 
the whole world and all his enemies can do to him. ' ' 5 

The transgression of the divine law, then, renders the ra- 
tional creature guilty of the divine offense, and therefore amen- 
able to punishment, which may be at once incurred by the sin- 
ner's death in that state. 

Sin has been rightly denned by St. Augustine as a word, 
thought, desire, and an act contrary to the law of God. As 
moralists teach us, three conditions must concur to make rational, 
responsible beings, such as we are, guilty of a mortal sin, and 
consequently amenable to endless punishment. They are a clear 
knowledge of the mind, full deliberation of the will, and griev- 
ous matter. If any of these three conditions is wanting, the 
sin may be only venial, or there may be no sin at all. 

143. To all mortals that depart from this life with the canker 
of grievous sin on their soul, the Supreme Judge will say : ' ' De- 
part from Me, all ye workers of iniquity." 6 "Know you not," 
writes St. Paul, "that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom 
of God? Do not err; neither fornicators nor idolaters, nor 
adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor liers with mankind, nor 
thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor railers, nor extor- 
tioners, shall possess the kingdom of God. " 7 St. John, the au- 
thor of the Apocalypse, thus writes of the several sinners ex- 
cluded from God's kingdom and consigned to damnation: 
"Without are dogs and sorcerers and unchaste, and murderers, 
and servers of idols, and every one that loveth and maketh a 
lie." 8 

144. This last text reminds me of an incident recorded by 
Msgr. Vaughan in his excellent volume, "Faith and Folly," 
which shows to what depth of depravity some human individuals 
may sink : 

"In a letter to the Westminster Gazette, Sept. 1, 1900, 
one Elizabeth L. Banks writes : 

" 'Sir, I have seen immortality in my dog's eyes, my faithful 
friend for thirteen years, now dead; yet over whose grave I 
have planted the inscription: "Not dead, but gone before." As 

3 Ps. xxxiii. 22. 6 Luke xiii. 27. 

4 Tob. xii. 10. 7 l Cor. vi. 9, 10. 
s Imitation of Christ, Book 2, Chap. 7. 8 Apoc. xxii. 15. 



80 The True End of Man 

for Revelation [Apocalypse XXII, 15, just cited] so often glibly- 
quoted, all I have to say is, that if it is true, then may it be 
granted unto me to have lived in such a way that I may also be 
one of the despised withouts, so that I may have the company 
of my dog.' 

"This Miss (or Mrs.) Banks expresses her preference to be 
outside of heaven with her dog than inside with God and His 
angels and saints, and intends to lead such a life as to deserve 
that lot. Comment is useless, and here anger gives place to 
Pity." 

145. St. Paul, writing on the same momentous truth, the 
gravity of sin and its terrible consequences, thus warns the Gala- 
tians: "Brethren, be not deceived, God is not mocked. For 
what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he 
that soweth in his flesh of the flesh also shall reap corruption. 
But he that soweth in the spirit of the spirit shall reap life ever- 
lasting." 9 

146. We are fully aware of the fact that modern unbelievers, 
some so-called Evangelical ministers of the late Pastor Russell's 
stamp, and not a few wavering Christians, raise objections 
against the eternity of hell, and even against its very existence. 
Such difficulties need not detain us here, for full justice will be 
done to them later on in the Seventh and Eighth Parts of this 
work, when we shall treat of the punitive sanction in the world 
to come. 

147. As a motive of encouragement to perseverance in hatred 
of sin, and in the fear of the Lord, let us here briefly recall some 
striking examples of heroism and loyalty to God exhibited by 
the saints and the martyrs, both before and after the Christian 
era. Their resolution, faithfully carried out, even under the 
most enticing allurements or in the face of terrific tortures, was 
to die rather than to sin. Thus to the lustful Egyptian temp- 
tress chaste Joseph replied: "How can I do this wicked thing, 
and sin against my God ? " 10 The chaste Susanna, determined 
to face death and an atrocious calumny rather than to consent 
to the iniquitous proposal of the two voluptuous elders, ex- 
claimed: "It is better for me to fall into your hands without 
doing it [this evil] than to sin in the sight of the Lord." 1X 

The nonagenarian Eleazar preferred to undergo a martyr's 
death rather than transgress the Mosaic Law, and, as he was 
about to be executed, he said: If I sinned, "I should not es- 
cape the hand of the Almighty, neither alive nor dead." The 
sacred writer concludes this narrative as follows: "Thus did 
this man die, leaving not only to young men, but also to the whole 
nation, the memory of his death for an example of virtue and 
fortitude." 12 

But in the whole history of the Old Testament nothing is 
9 Gal. vi. 7, 8. io Gen. xxxix. 9. « Dan. xiii. 23 12 2 Mach. vi. 26, 31. 



How It can be Infallibly Attained 81 

found more sublime, more touching and inspiring, than the 
courage displayed by the seven Machabees brothers and their 
heroic mother in the excruciating martyrdom which they suf- 
fered under the cruel king Antiochus, when, rather than trans- 
gress the law, they allowed themselves to be chopped to pieces 
and burned alive. 13 

148. As we shall have occasion to notice further on in Chapters 
IX and X of Part VII, similar, and, in some cases, even more 
astonishing acts of heroism were exhibited by the martyrs of the 
Christian Era, when men and women of every rank of society, 
true heroes and heroines, as well as young boys and tender 
maidens, bravely underwent the most atrocious deaths rather 
than to prove faithless to Christ and His holy Church. And, in 
comparatively more recent times, what does history tell us about 
the Catholic Church in England? In the sixteenth century a 
violent storm passed over that unhappy country, and hell itself 
seemed to have been let loose. The old religion, which had been 
the very heart and source of spiritual life in the whole realm, 
was proscribed, assaulted, and abolished. The noblest heads 
rolled on the block, and any one who dared call himself a Catho- 
lic became thereby guilty of high treason, and was liable to be 
tortured, disemboweled, and hanged. The savage executioners 
would cut down the martyrs from the gallows while they were yet 
writhing in agony, and tear out their still palpitating hearts. 

The recollection of such examples of unconquerable fortitude, 
whilst encouraging God's faithful servants, cannot but make 
weak-kneed Christians blush for shame, who, at the least breath 
of temptation, cowardly surrender their soul to Satan, by the 
commission of sin. Indeed, it must be said that no Christian 
is worthy of the name he bears who is not ready and willing 
to suffer all things, and death itself, if it need be, rather than 
incur the guilt of a grievous offense against the majesty of God. 

Would to God that we should be so firmly rooted in the fear 
and love of the Lord as to be able to repeat St. Paul's bold chal- 
lenge: "Who then shall separate us from the love of Christ f 
Shall tribulation? or distress? or famine? or nakedness? or 
danger? or persecution? or the sword? But in all these things 
we overcome because of Him that loved us. ' ' 14 

Dear reader, it is only by living up to such resolutions that we 
can, with God's grace, lead a virtuous, holy life and shun sin, 
the only obstacle to the attainment of our last happy end, the 
bliss of eternal life. 

13 2 Mach. vii. i* Rom. viii. 35, 37. 



82 The True End of Man 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE PARAMOUNT VALUE AND IMPORTANCE OF 
OUR EARTHLY LIFE 

149. The subjects we have dealt with in the preceding chapters 
enable us, no doubt, fully to realize the overwhelming signifi- 
cance of the present life, when considered as to its bearings on 
the next. This temporal life takes on a different aspect, indeed, 
when we become convinced of the reality of the life to come and 
its untold treasures, placed by a bountiful Providence within 
our reach. How discouragement vanishes before the consoling 
assurance that no labor, however hidden to the world's gaze, no 
faithful discharge of duty, can be in vain. If all this be true, 
and it undoubtedly is, our earthly pilgrimage, granted for the 
acquisition of endless happiness in our heavenly country, ac- 
quires the highest significance. It tells us that the finite and 
the transitory is but a prelude to the infinite and the enduring. 
It is the splendid shining doorway through which sanctified hu- 
manity passes at death's summons, into the inner palace of the 
Deity. 

Heaven with all its delights is certainly promised to all, but, 
as we have seen, only conditionally, for reasons eminently worthy 
of divine wisdom and justice. God wishes most earnestly to 
lead all to eternal happiness, our last end, but on condition that 
we merit it by a virtuous life. God's inspired word, which as- 
sures us that "He will have all men to be saved and to come to 
the knowledge of the truth, ' ' * tells us also that we should with 
fear and trembling work out our salvation. 2 Hence, if man 
freely and willingly submits himself to the will of his Creator 
and Lord, an eternal crown will be his reward. If, on the con- 
trary, by the abuse of his liberty, he refuses to obey, rejects his 
proffered gifts, and prefers his own will to that of his Maker, 
he will justly forfeit the promised crown, and instead of sing- 
ing in heaven for all eternity the praises of God's goodness and 
mercy, he will, in spite of himself, proclaim His omnipotence 
and justice forever in the prison of hell. Therefore Almighty 
God will infallibly obtain the supreme and final purpose of crea- 
tion, which is His own honor and glory, through the acknowl- 
edgment, either spontaneous or compulsory, of His divine 
attributes; for the words of Holy Scripture must be verified. 
"God made all things for Himself; the wicked also for the evil 
day." 3 

150. Man's earthly trial is short; but an eternity hangs on it. 
Yet, brief as it is, life confronts man with a choice on which 

i-l Tim. ii. 4. 2 Philipp. ii. 12. 3 p r ov. xvi. 4. 



How It can be Infallibly Attained 83 

everything depends. To change the current of circumstances 
about him is beyond his power ; but he may set his course as he 
wills, either directing it upward to eternal bliss, or downward to 
everlasting woe. There can be no guarantee of perseverance in 
the good choice without unceasing efforts. Evil grows apace; 
good plods but slowly. The nettle thrives of itself even when 
trampled upon, but the rose needs the gardener's care. 

Many a mortal is met with in this world who has a wrong con- 
ception of man's life, and, alas, acts accordingly. It is said 
that Democritus was wont to laugh when he thought of it, and 
that Heraclitus wept. This contrast may be seen in the long 
flight of ages that make up human history. To the optimist 
the world appears superlatively good ; to the pessimist it is hope- 
lessly evil. As both systems are wrong, we must say that the 
truth lies midway between these two opposing views. As Chris- 
tian faith teaches us, this world of ours is neither heaven nor 
hell; it is a road, difficult, no doubt, but not impassable to hu- 
man efforts aided by divine grace leading to the eternal optim- 
ism of heaven. Bordering on this road lies a dread abyss, the 
embodiment of pessimism, into which a man may voluntarily 
fling himself. 

151. The Lord's promise registered in the Apocalypse (11, 10), 
' ' Be thou faithful until death, and I will give thee the crown of 
life, ' ' points out to us all our sublime earthly task in the clearest 
language. Whoever fails to merit God's remunerative crown 
will fall into the hands of His punitive justice, the awful lot 
which the sinner himself freely and deliberately chooses. As 
it is stated in several parts of this work, the final decision as to 
the place where eternity is to be spent lies in the power and will 
of man himself — either eternal happiness or eternal misery, 
either heaven or hell. Such is the choice which he must make 
before departing from this world. With the help of divine 
grace, which is granted to all in answer to prayer, man can be- 
come the author and maker of his own everlasting bliss. No 
one will be reckoned among the elect unless he deserves this lot 
by his own earnest efforts. On the other hand, no one will be 
counted among the reprobates unless he brought upon himself 
that greatest of evils, the loss of celestial bliss. In the light of 
eternity our temporal life acquires a value and a significance 
which are truly astounding, nay, overwhelming. Either man 
chooses the arduous and steep path of virtue, which leads to 
heavenly happiness, or runs headlong on the broad way of sin, 
which brings him to perdition, that is, everlasting misery. This 
is the alternative presented to all by Jesus Christ in His Gospel. 
Here there is no neutral ground for us to stand upon, for He 
tells us : "He that is not with Me is against Me. " 4 No mortal 
that has reached the use of reason can evade this dreadful alter- 

* Matt. xii. 30. 



84 The True End of Man 

native. Hence, to make a wise, happy choice and thus secure to 
himself a never-ending abode in God's kingdom, is the first, the 
supreme, and most important task allotted to man in his short, 
earthly life. This is what imparts to every minute of our time 
a sublime gravity, which should deter every man from trifling 
with his earthly existence and surrendering it to Satan by a 
career of sin. Crowns and diadems, wealth and learning, high 
position and renown count but as straws when weighed in the 
balance of the sanctuary. The beggar, the outcast, the street- 
sweeper, or the meanest underscullion, if only his soul be free 
from sin and adorned with the beauty of sanctifying grace, will 
be more esteemed by God, and wear for all eternity a brighter 
and nobler crown than all the great of this world endowed with 
inferior virtue and holiness. 

152. If a man has to face a trial, on the issue of which his 
own life depends, he will think of it night and day, and spare no 
labor or expense to secure a successful result. Yet, what is any 
earthly trial compared with the divine judgment which is to de- 
cide our everlasting lot? Every sensible man will continually 
hold before his mind the thought of the Judgment Day, spare no 
labor to secure to himself a sentence of absolution. This is an 
affair which concerns every individual of the human race. The 
monarch in the height of his power and glory and the poor un- 
known laborer ; they that dwell in marble palaces as well as the 
inhabitants of wretched, dilapidated huts; the learned and the 
illiterate, all have to appear before the dread tribunal, and hear 
the irrevocable sentence, either of reward or of punishment, 
either of eternal salvation or of everlasting reprobation. In the 
light of Christian teachings, we fully understand why human 
life is truly something sacred, and most precious, and why a 
virtuous, honest, holy life is our greatest good of time and of 
eternity. These reflections help us to grasp the full meaning of 
that Gospel sentence, which, when deeply penetrated and acted 
upon, has saved from hell millions of sinners, and peopled heaven 
with millions of souls. "What doth it profit a man," says 
Christ, "if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his 
own soul ? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul ? ' ' 5 

153. Yes, heaven with all its joys, with all its delights, and 
with the eternity of its duration awaits us, but on condition of 
our loyalty and fidelity to our Sovereign Creator and Supreme 
Benefactor. It is in our power either to secure to ourselves a 
perfect abode with God and His angels in heaven, or by our re- 
bellion against the Lord to excavate for ourselves a dungeon with 
Satan and the reprobates in hell. Victory over sin is the indis- 
pensable condition for deserving eternal life. We cannot have a 
clearer assurance of this divine truth than that afforded by God 's 
own words in the Book of Ecclesiasticus ; words which tell us in 

s Matt. xvi. 26. 



How It can be Infallibly Attained 85 

the clearest language that, as the securing of eternal happiness is 
the result of obedience to God 's holy will, so the forfeiting of it, 
along with its awful consequences, is the outcome of resistance 
and rebellion to His holy law. The play of man's liberty and 
its results could scarcely be stated in clearer terms : ' ' God made 
man from the beginning and left him in the hand of his own 
counsel. He added His commandments and precepts. If thou 
wilt keep the commandments, and perform acceptable fidelity 
forever, they shall preserve thee. Before man is life and death, 
good and evil, that which he shall choose shall be given him. ' ' 6 

"Man," says the inspired writer, "shall go into the house of 
his eternity, ' ' 7 that is, he shall dwell forever in the abode which 
he himself shall have chosen during the period of his earthly pil- 
grimage, the time allowed to him in which to make his choice. 
Now, this decision as to the choice of one's eternity, either infi- 
nitely happy or eternally miserable, must be made by every 
individual of the human race, without any exception whatever. 
This is a business so exclusively proper of each individual that 
no representative, no substitute can replace him, when summoned 
to appear before God's dread tribunal. 

To realize still more vividly the supreme importance of a right 
use of time, we have but to set it side by side with eternity. In 
fact, what is a paltry, earthly life even of eighty or ninety years, 
which very few mortals reach, compared with eternity? No 
wonder that this thought, when deeply penetrated, has driven 
men and women by thousands into the solitude of convent life. 
To master this thought furnishes the strongest motive for a life 
of the closest union with God. 

Fame, riches, sensual gratifications, titles, honors, high social 
positions, what are all these earthly goods but the playthings of 
children! They may serve to beguile, to amuse, to interest us 
for a while, but they possess no intrinsic worth whatever. But 
there is just one grand and fundamental fact which rescues life 
from all triviality and meanness, which invests it with a value 
impossible to exaggerate. And what is that? It is that in this 
brief and seemingly empty life on earth is contained the pledge 
of an infinitely happy eternity. The present moment is big 
with promise: time is the seed, eternity is the harvest. In the 
short period of man's earthly existence eternal issues are being 
fought out. Heaven and hell tremble in the balance. There is 
no fact so certain, there is no fact so awful, as the sentence of 
the Supreme Judge, on which our everlasting lot depends. My 
life, my conduct, my fidelity or infidelity to God 's holy laws, will 
decide whether I am to spend eternity in a veritable delirium of 
delights, or in an everlasting paroxysm of misery and despair. 

154. We have ample reason, then, to conclude that as a virtu- 
ous life is man 's greatest good, so a sinful life is his greatest evil. 

« Ecclus. xv. 14, 15, 16, 18. i Eccles. xii. 5. 



86 The True End of Man 

Virtue alone can lead man to the heavenly crown, and on that 
account, surpasses all earthly goods ; sin, on the contrary, brings 
man to endless misery and for that reason, becomes his greatest 
evil, nay, an infinite evil, and the only one of which we need 
stand in any fear, or that can do us any permanent injury. 
The inspired word of God not only teaches this most explicitly, 
but it impresses the fact upon us by the most appalling and 
startling examples. Instance after instance of sin's withering, 
devastating, and blighting effects is flashed upon us from the 
sacred pages; like the scenes in some awful tragedy they suc- 
ceed one another with amazing impressiveness. The fall and 
swift punishment of the rebel angels, the expulsion of our first 
parents from the earthly paradise, and the consequent calamities 
that befell them ; the awful catastrophe of the universal deluge, 
the destruction by fire and brimstone of Sodom and Gomorrha, 
reveal to us both the evil of sin and the infinite hatred that God 
bears against it. 8 

The question is here asked: Is Almighty God indifferent as 
to men's attitude toward the laws He published to lead them to 
the attainment of their end here and hereafter ? In other words, 
has the Creator and Supreme Ruler of mankind made any pro- 
vision to induce them to the observance of His laws, and to de- 
ter them from their violation, whilst leaving untrammelled the 
full use of their liberty? 

The following discussion on the sanction of God's laws will 
give the answer. 

s Lessius, De Perf. Div. 1. xiii. 



PART II 
THE SANCTION OF GOD'S LAWS 

CHAPTER I 

WHAT IS MEANT BY THE TERM "SANCTION"? 

The sanction confirms the law and completes its binding force. 
Hence it is rightly said to be the protection and bulwark of 
the law. 

155. By sanction is meant the decree by which the legislator 
determines the good or reward to be obtained by those who ob- 
serve the law; and the evil or punishment to be incurred by 
those who transgress it. Hence the distinction between the re- 
munerative and the punitive sanction. The divine sanction is 
perfect, since it contains the two notes or marks essential to its 
perfection, and to the attainment of the object for which it is 
established. 

First: It contains a suitably just proposition corresponding 
to the merit of the good deeds, and to the demerits of evil deeds. 
Secondly: It is of itself complete and sufficient to induce men 
to observe the law, and to restrain them from violating it, with- 
out tampering with their freedom. That Almighty God, the 
Supreme Master and Lawgiver, has furnished a perfect sanction 
to His laws and commandments is proved from His divine 
attributes, particularly from His infinite wisdom, justice, and 
majesty. 

In the first place, God's attributes of infinite wisdom and 
justice demand that provision should be made for the observ- 
ance of the laws intended to lead His rational creatures to their 
end; an object accomplished by the divine provident decree 
promising reward to their observers and threatening punishment 
to their transgressors. 

156. This Almighty God does by bestowing eternal happiness 
on the just, and inflicting everlasting punishment on the wicked. 
That so wise and just a provision should have been made appears 
from the fact that any judge, ruler, or legislator failing to pro- 
vide for the execution of the enacted laws would be looked upon 
as a foolish and contemptible man, one who makes no distinction 
between the observers and the violators of his laws, and cares 
not whether his subjects obey his commands or trample them 
under foot. 

87 



88 The Remunerative and the 

It would be blasphemy to suppose that Almighty God, the 
Supreme Lawgiver, the Ruler and Judge of mankind, could be 
liable to such a charge of utter carelessness and incompetence 
regarding the moral government of His subjects, the human race. 

To convince any fair-minded man, free from prejudice, of the 
divinely revealed truth on the existence and endless duration 
of both the remunerative and the punitive sanction, we need but 
attentively reflect on the following common-sense argument: 
There exists a most just and provident God, the Creator and 
Ruler of mankind ; therefore, this twofold sanction is not a mere 
human device or a myth, but a truth manifested by God Him- 
self to the human race. The legitimacy of our conclusion is 
apparent. In fact a just, provident God, who certainly cares 
for the best interests and welfare of men, His creatures, cannot 
permit that the overwhelming multitudes of Christian peoples, 
who faithfully serve Him, and are willing to sacrifice everything, 
even life itself, for His sake, should be hugely deceived con- 
cerning a most fundamental tenet, which they firmly believe, 
and according to which they regulate all the actions of their re- 
sponsible life. That fundamental tenet is their full conviction 
of the certainty of the eternal reward promised to the just, and 
of the eternal penalty threatened to the wicked. Their warrant 
is found in Christ's words in His Gospel: "And these [the 
wicked] shall go into everlasting punishment; but the just into 
life everlasting. " * No one can believe that a most wise, just, 
and good God would suffer that the best and most loyal of His 
creatures should be unavoidably deceived on that momentous 
question, on which depends the whole tenor of their mortal life. 
Now, this wholesale deception would actually occur if their hope 
of a heavenly recompense to the just, and their fear of hell, chas- 
tisement to the wicked, based on divine revelation, and on 
Christ's own words, cited above, should have no foundation in 
truth. It is also plain that the whole responsibility of such 
deception, were it at all possible, would fall back on God Him- 
self, the Author of revelation. 

Moreover, we have every reason to believe that God's provi- 
dence does not fail to supply His rational creatures with the 
means most apt, suitable, and necessary to enforce and facili- 
tate the observance of His holy laws, on the keeping or trans- 
gressing of which hangs an eternity either of happiness or of 
woe. Such a means is the double sanction explained above. 

157. We come to the same conclusion by considering the in- 
finite majesty of God, the Supreme Legislator. 

It stands to reason that the Lord, as Supreme Legislator, can- 
not permit what would be highly unworthy of and utterly un- 
becoming His Sovereign Majesty; namely, that even one single, 
rational creature could entirely subtract himself from His do- 

iMatt. xxv. 46. 



Punitive Sanction of God's Laws 89 

minion, and transgress His holy laws with impunity. This is 
what would actually happen if God merely imposed command- 
ments and supplied no sanction to enforce them. Under the 
existence and working of such sanction man may, indeed, through 
the abuse of his liberty, subtract himself from the divine will 
commanding what is good and forbidding what is evil ; but, by 
so doing, he becomes subject to the divine sanction punishing. 
It will then be for man a very great penalty to be excluded from 
heavenly beatitude, which implies the disorder of the natural 
faculties of his soul, sensitive pains and privation of all goods, 
both internal and external. 

As to the reasons or motives of the punitive sanction, inas- 
much as it implies the infliction of pain, they will be pointed 
out farther on. 

158. Though pain or chastisement is always expiatory, it is 
not always disciplinary or medicinal for the following reasons: 

In the first place, if pain is considered as threatened, then its 
object is to deter the subjects from the infraction of the law 
and it may then prove beneficial to all who heed such warnings 
and act accordingly. 

Secondly: If we consider pain when actually inflicted, then 
its essential purpose is the vindication or restoration of the moral 
order violated by the commission of the divine offense, as will 
be shown farther on. Even then it has also a secondary object, 
the warning of surviving men against the transgression of God 's 
holy laws; a warning, which, of course, can no longer benefit 
those on whom the punishment has been inflicted, as they vol- 
untarily died in sin. Such was the awful calamity that befell 
the obstinate Jews, according to the prediction of Christ, the 
Messiah, in whom they refused to believe. "Jesus said to them: 
I go and you shall seek me, and you shall die in your sin. ' ' 2 
' ' He that believeth in the Son, hath life everlasting ; but he that 
believeth not the Son, shall not see life; but the wrath of God 
abideth on him. ' ' 3 

If some of my readers happen to be Unitarians, denying the 
divinity of Christ and rejecting the dogma of the Holy Trinity, 
I beg them to reflect on the fearful consequences of their unbe- 
lief ; and to profit by the Saviour's warning, lest the fate that 
overtook the obstinate Jews should fall to their lot. 

2 John viii. 21, 24. 3 John iii. 36. 



90 The Remunerative and the 



CHAPTEE II 

THERE EXISTS IN THE PRESENT LIFE AN INITIAL, 

THOUGH IMPERFECT, SANCTION OF THE 

DIVINE LAWS 

159. It cannot be denied that there is in the present life some 
sanction, both remunerative and punitive, consisting, therefore, 
of both reward and punishment. 

It would be erroneous to suppose that even here below man 
can either transgress with impunity the precepts of natural law 
or observe them without a suitable recompense. The chief 
reasons are as follows: 

First: It was not becoming the wise providence of the 
Sovereign Creator and Supreme Ruler that man should be en- 
ticed to virtue only by the hope of future reward obtainable after 
his mortal career ; or that he should be refrained from sin only 
by the fear of future punishment, for then he would be deprived 
of all solace and comfort in the arduous pursuit of virtue, and 
would not be deterred by any present penalty from the enticing 
allurements of sin. It was but proper that the good should even 
now enjoy something like a foretaste of the reward promised 
and prepared for them in the life to come ; and that the wicked 
should have a timely warning and presentiment of the forth- 
coming penalties to be undergone in the future life unless they 
abandon the broad way of iniquity and repent before it is too 
late. Thus, while the good experience that the observance of 
God's laws affords them sweetness and consolation, the wicked, 
on the contrary, cannot but find that their lot is hard and bitter 
in the extreme. What reason and experience teach, divine 
revelation fully confirms. Christ said: ''Take up My yoke 
upon you, and you shall find rest to your souls. For My yoke 
is sweet, and My burden light. " * " For this is the charity of 
God, that we keep His Commandments, and His Commandments 
are not heavy. ' ' 2 

160. The inspired writer thus speaks in the Old Testament of 
the fruitless and miserable career of the wicked : ' ' We wearied 
ourselves in the way of iniquity and destruction, and have walked 
through hard ways, but the way of the Lord we have not 
known. ' ' 3 

This truth has been testified by the ancient classical writers. 
Socrates, for instance, in one of his orations, scathingly de- 
nounces and condemns the erroneous opinion of those who held 
that things in this world are so disposed that men derive more 
advantage from wickedness than from honesty and goodness. 4 

i Matt. xi. 29, 30. 2 1 j hn v. 3. a Wis. v. 7. 

* Lib. de Factis. et Dictis Socratis. 



Punitive Sanction of God's Laws 91 

Here we fully endorse the sentiments of a distinguished Span- 
ish writer, Benito Feyfoo, 0. S. B. (d. 1764) . 

"Generally virtue is imagined to be all asperity, vice all de- 
light ; virtue to be placed amid thorns, vice to be reclining on a 
bed of flowers. Yet, if we were able to look into the hearts of 
men immersed in vicious indulgence, our doubts would speedily 
vanish. By reflection we shall be able to see them in the mir- 
rors of the soul, that is in their countenance, speech, and actions. 
Many are the afflictions that mar and poison the enjoyment of 
their pleasures. Their own conscience, a domestic enemy, an 
unavoidable guest, though highly unwelcome, is always there 
to mingle gall with the nectar which they are drinking. The Bo- 
man sage, Cicero, declares that the vices of the wicked are to 
them like ever-present, unavoidable furies. In mythology they 
are the vultures which gnaw and devour the entrails of the 
wicked Typhoeus. They are the eagles which tear the heart of 
unhappy Prometheus. ' ' 5 

161. What we stated above is fully confirmed by experience. 
In fact, it cannot be denied that even here below many goods are 
providentially associated with a virtuous life, and many evils 
generally accompany vicious conduct, some essentially, some 
naturally, and others morally, according to the division adopted 
by eminent ethical writers, such as Tongiorgi, Ferretti, Cathrein, 
Schiffini, and others. In the first place, some goods are essen- 
tially attached to the practice of virtue, which is wont to bring 
great peace and joy to the soul springing from the interior con- 
science approving all good deeds. 

"I feel within me 
A peace above all earthly dignities, 



A still and quiet conscience. 



" 6 



Vice, on the contrary, embitters the soul by the rebukes of 
a guilty conscience. A. Canning observes that no evil is intoler- 
able but a guilty conscience. 

162. Secondly: Some goods are naturally connected with a 
virtuous life, and some evils with a sinful one; and this arises 
from the very constitution of man, the result of the human com- 
pound made of soul and body. For virtue, self-control, temper- 
ance in particular, that is, a just moderation in the enjoyment of 
earthly goods, by their very nature, strengthen the forces of the 
body, preserve its health, free it from many pains and ills and 
prolong its life. Vice, on the contrary, naturally produces in 
the body the opposite effects. It weakens its vigor, injures its 
health, causes many pains and sicknesses, and hastens death. 
Intemperance, says the old proverb, has killed more men than the 
sword. 

s Beautiful Thoughts from Spanish Authors, edited by C. S. Ramage. 

e Cardinal Wolsey in Henry VIII, act iii, sc. 2. 



92 The Remunerative and the 

Thirdly: Some goods accompany virtue, and some evils vice, 
morally, that is, on account of their influence good or bad on our 
fellow-men. For virtue produces the esteem, love, and confi- 
dence of our fellow-creatures, whilst vice generally begets their 
contempt, diffidence, and aversion. 

163. What is said of individuals may be justly applied to so- 
ciety at large, for the happiness or well-being of any human so- 
ciety is secured particularly by righteousness, and its ruin is 
mainly caused by the vices and crimes of its members. Hence 
reason, history, and experience teach us that those nations 
flourish and enjoy true prosperity, in which religion, morality, 
justice, and benevolence are in full vigor. On the contrary, 
those human commonwealths are afflicted by many evils and 
hastening to decay, ruin, and destruction, in which impiety, irre- 
legion, unbridled license, frauds, and perfidiousness prevail. 
That such must be the opposite results of right or wrongdoing, 
we are assured by God's own authority, who thus speaks through 
His inspired writer: " Justice exalteth a nation; but sin makes 
nations miserable. ' ' 7 



CHAPTER III 

THE SANCTION OF THE PRESENT LIFE, BEING IM- 
PERFECT, IS NOT SUFFICIENT TO DETER 
MEN FROM EVIL-DOING 

164. In fact, take as an instance the very trying affliction pro- 
duced by remorse of conscience as experienced by evil-doers. Is 
it enough to frighten men from their wicked career ? No, by no 
means. The vehemence of remorse is not generally increased in 
proportion to man's depravity, and the number of crimes he 
perpetrates. Hence its stings are often less felt by those who, 
on account of their tendency toward enormous iniquities, should 
need a greater restraint. And when it is a question of the per- 
formance of good, virtuous deeds, can we say that the interior 
approval and the joy of an upright conscience are always com- 
mensurate with the number and perfection of the virtues prac- 
tised, sometimes under great difficulties and bitter opposition? 
What earthly reward is received by the noble heroes who for- 
feit all things and sacrifice life itself rather than transgress God's 
holy law, as was done by the seven Machabean brothers and 
their heroic mother, and by the millions of martyrs that died 
for Christ? 

165. Neither is earthly sanction, in most cases, sufficient to 
keep men from breaking God's holy law. To do so it should 
offer to a man 's free will a motive superior to all other motives, 

7 Prov. xiv. 34. 



Punitive Sanction of God's Laws 93 

advantages and attractions, by which man's will is easily in- 
duced to prefer the gratification of his passions to the observance 
of God's commands. But, as sad experience proves, no earthly 
sanction can supply such motive. The frequent commission of 
grievous sins even by those who realize their gravity and know 
their consequences, even in the present life, shows the truth 
of our contention. 

To convince the reader that the sanction of this life, whatever 
it be, is by no means sufficient to keep man from the transgres- 
sion of God 's commandments, we add the following reasons from 
Solimani's Ethica: 1 

First : That a sanction may be perfect, and therefore capable 
of generally enforcing the execution of the law, even in the face 
of strong difficulties and violent opposition, it is required that 
both the reward and the punishment should be proportionate to 
the arduousness of the virtue to be practised and to the allure- 
ment of the sin to be avoided. In other words, it is required 
that the reward should correspond to the exacting character of 
the law to be kept and to the observance of the many precepts 
to be complied with, and that there should be a greater punish- 
ment where there is a more grievous breach of the law. 

Secondly: The reward must be such as to fully counteract 
whatever inconvenience or loss must be undergone in the ob- 
servance of the law; and the punishment should likewise be of 
such a nature as to surpass whatever advantage may be derived 
from the infraction of the law. 

Now, neither of the aforementioned requisites is verified in 
the sanction limited to the present life. For though virtue is 
wont to procure us many both internal and external goods, yet 
these are not always obtained, and, when realized, they do not 
furnish a compensation corresponding to the sacrifices endured 
in the practice of virtue and the shunning of sin. 

166. For similar reasons, though vice causes very many calami- 
ties and troubles to vicious men, yet these afflictions are often 
evaded and overcome, and are frequently quite inferior to the 
advantages and gratifications derived from the indulgence of 
passions. 

Take the case of a man that must incur death if he refuses to 
commit a crime. Such an individual, if he breaks the law by the 
perpetration of crime, will indeed be afflicted by internal re- 
morse, but he will enjoy longer life, a boon superior to all other 
natural goods. And if he keeps the law and refuses to do wrong, 
he can expect no reward whatever in the present world, as he 
must forfeit even his very life. 

167. The imperfect sanction of human laws can reach only a 
very limited part of men 's activity, while the whole of the inter- 
ior life, such as secret plottings, criminal designs and con- 

i Sec. 2. c. 3. 



94 The Remunerative and the 

spiracies, almost entirely escape the hands of human justice. 
Yet they are the remote originators of all kinds of crimes, as we 
learn from Christ's words in His Gospel: "From the heart 
come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, 
false testimonies, blasphemies. ' ' 2 

It must, then, be admitted that only a sanction imposed by an 
omniscient and omnipotent judge can reward the secret sacrifices 
of the hidden martyr, and punish the concealed crimes of the 
crafty offender. The sanction then of the present life is insuffi- 
cient, and we must look for a better one in the next. 

Let Plato ? s thought be a confirmation and a fitting conclusion 
of this chapter — 

In his treatise De Civitate, called also De RepuMica, he writes : 
"We must not make much of the rewards which accompany 
the practice of virtue in this life, but must conceive a high es- 
teem of those which are found in life immortal. ' ' 3 



CHAPTER IV 

THE PERFECT SANCTION OF GOD'S LAWS IS FOUND 
ONLY IN THE LIFE TO COME 

168. This is the rational and inevitable conclusion derived 
from the preceding discussion. On this subject thus spoke the 
distinguished orator and Doctor of the Church, St. John Chrysos- 
tom, in his sermon on Divine Providence: "If after the pres- 
ent life nothing else awaits man in the future, then we must con- 
clude that there is no God. For, if God exists, He is a just 
God, and as such He will hereafter allot to each of His rational 
creatures reward or punishment according to each one's deserts. 
If, however, no such retribution awaits man beyond the grave, 
where and when shall the just be rewarded, and the wicked pun- 
ished? Here below many live comfortably and with honor, 
though wicked, and many are miserable, though good. If, there- 
fore, nothing remains after the present life, the just will de- 
part in misery, and the wicked leave this world after enjoying in 
it an undeserved felicity. The former will receive no recompense 
for their virtuous deeds, and the latter will fear no chastisement 
for their crimes. Where then is justice? If God is not just, 
there is no God. But all creatures loudly proclaim that God 
exists. Therefore He is just; therefore He must grant to each 
what he has deserved by his good or wicked deeds. This is so 
plain and manifest that Jews and Christians, Greeks and Ro- 
mans, pagans and believers, in short, all classes of men, are in 
perfect accord in acknowledging the imperative necessity of a 
future retribution. ' ' 

2 Matt. xv. 19. 3 L. I. Patuzzi, p. 23. 



Punitive Sanction of God's Laws 95 

The attainment of man's last end is the just reward of the ob- 
servance of God's laws. This is not only possible, but also cer- 
tain; it is all that the Lord requires from His creatures upon 
earth for their admission to the possession of heaven: and con- 
sistently with His wisdom and justice, He could not require less. 
And, on the other hand, the exclusion of man from the attain- 
ment of his last end is a just penalty of the grievous violation of 
the divine commands, the utter disregard of the condition to be 
fulfilled for the realization of man's last secondary end, the 
eternal possession of God. 

169. Though the penalty referred to above, that is, missing 
one's last end, is quite just, and the chief one, yet it is not held 
to be a sufficient punishment for the wicked ; hence it is further 
required that, besides forfeiting their last end, the possession of 
God, they should suffer some other affliction. St. Thomas argues 
that those who rebel against God must be punished, not only by 
their perpetual exclusion from heavenly beatitude, but also by 
the infliction of something painful. He alleges several reasons 
to prove his assertion, of which we here cite the following: 

First reason: The punishment must be proportionate and 
fitted to the guilt. Now in the guilt we find two distinct dis- 
orders; namely, the sinner's turning away from God, his last 
end, and turning himself to creatures, as if they were his ulti- 
mate end. He must therefore be punished both by being 
eternally excluded from his true end, and by enduring from 
creatures some suffering or painful harm. The pain of loss 
chastises the sinner for the first guilt, and the pain of sense for 
the second. As to the latter penalty, it is intended as a chas- 
tisement for the sinner's abuse of both his spiritual and sensitive 
faculties as instruments of God's offense. What was given him 
for legitimate purposes and as means of virtue, was turned by 
the abuse of God's gifts into occasions of sin. That this will 
be the lot of the wicked we are assured by the divinely inspired 
testimony of both the Old and the New Testament : ' ' That they 
might know that by what things a man sinneth, by the same also 
he is tormented." x "As much as she hath glorified herself, and 
lived in delicacies, so much torment and sorrow give ye to her. ' ' 2 

Second reason : The punishment must be such as to cor- 
respond to the guilt or offense, on account of which it is inflicted. 
Now the soul, by the commission of sin, subjected itself to the 
body by yielding to its criminal concupiscence. It is therefore 
but just that for its punishment the soul should be subjected to 
the action of some corporeal thing such as hell's fire, as divine 
revelation teaches, if the sin has not been atoned for and blotted 
out by timely repentance. 3 

Third reason : Penalties are threatened and inflicted in order 

i Wis. xi. 17. - Apoc. xviii. 7. 

s St. Thomas, Suppl., 3*e p. qu. 70, art. 3. 



96 The Remunerative and the 

that men may be deterred from sin through fear of incurring 
them. As experience teaches, sinners are not restrained from 
evil by the loss of that which they have no wish to secure. 
Hence, those whose will is deliberately averted from the last 
end, the possession of God, feel no regret for being excluded 
from it. Such individuals evidently cannot be deterred from 
the divine offense on account of their missing thereby their last 
end. It was therefore necessary that some other penalty feared 
by sinners should be allotted. 

Fourth reason: Inveterate sinners, fearing neither God nor 
man, who try to persuade themselves that if there shall be any 
penalty at all, the only one awaiting them in the next world will 
be their exclusion from the vision and possession of God, have 
been heard saying: "To enjoy our paradise on earth, we are 
willing to give up that of heaven. ' ' 4 

Exclude the pain of sense from the punitive sanction and the 
two following absurd consequences will be inevitable: First: 
The most reckless sinners will be free from the only penalty they 
dread, that of sensitive affliction. Secondly: The most power- 
ful deterrent from sin, the torments of hell, will be entirely done 
away with, and consequently there will remain no motive strong 
enough to control and subdue the rebellious passions of man, a 
standing menace to the welfare of society and its law-abiding 
members. Moreover, as good things causing enjoyment are 
due to the just, so evil things producing pain should befall the 
wicked, as it is quite just that each should receive either con- 
tentment or affliction, according to the end which he prefixed to 
himself, God or the creatures, and according to the choice that 
each one freely made before his departure from this world. 
Therefore, twofold is the punishment inflicted on all who appear 
at the judgment seat with the canker of grievous sin on their 
soul, the pain of loss and that of sense. The former consists in 
the eternal privation of heavenly beatitude; the latter results 
from positive affliction or pain ; a chastisement now endured by 
the fallen angels and the reprobate souls. 

Sins, therefore, are also punished by the infliction of some 
sensitive pains. The Angelical Doctor, as has been noted above, 
in his Siimma Contra Gentiles, alleges several arguments to estab- 
lish that proposition and to assign the reason why Holy Scrip- 
ture asserts that the reprobates will suffer a twofold penalty, the 
privation of the beatific vision, and the torment of hell's fire. 
Hence the sentence of the Supreme Judge: "Depart from me, 
you cursed, into everlasting fire. ' ' 5 

It was therefore necessary to add to the loss of man's last end 
the infliction of sensitive pains, which are much more dreaded 
by men than the privation of the beatific vision. Whoever holds 
the opposite view falls into the error of the Arabian philosopher 

4 St. Thomas Contra Gent., 1. iii, c! 145. 5 Matt. xxv. 41. 



Punitive Sanction of God's Laws 97 

Algazel, who held that the only penalty incurred by impenitent 
sinners is the loss of their last end. An American politician, 
anxious to be elected United States Senator, was heard to say 
that he preferred that position in Congress to the bliss of heaven, 
whatever that might be. 

The sentence to be pronounced by Christ, the Sovereign Judge, 
on the last day: "Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlast- 
ing fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels," 6 is 
but a confirmation of the verdict given by the same Divine Judge 
at the particular judgment, held immediately after death. The 
eternal sufferings of the wicked in their soul after death, and in 
their body also after the final resurrection, is the terrible dog- 
matic truth now assumed, but which shall be fully established in 
Parts VII, VIII, and IX of our book, where the chief difficulties 
raised by Unitarians and the advocates of all the theories opposed 
to the Christian dogma will be analyzed and refuted*. 

170. In the next chapter we shall see how true it is that the 
endless duration of hell's pains, which Catholic faith teaches 
as a divinely revealed dogma, is not contrary to the dictates of 
right reason. Nay, we contend that the promptings of reason 
and common sense are in perfect harmony with the teachings of 
faith. 

As in our controversy with unbelievers and rationalists we 
limit our discussion principally to the truths that have been de- 
fined as articles of faith, we deem it advisable to premise the 
following remarks : 

In his theological treatise De Deo Creatore (n. 799), the re- 
nowned Father Perrone writes: "It is of faith: 1st, that hell 
exists; 2nd, that it is a place of torments comprising the pain 
of loss, the forfeiture of heavenly bliss, and the pain of sense 
inflicted on the reprobate souls while separated from the body, 
and on both the body and the soul after the general resurrection. 
3rd, that the penalty of hell is incurred by all who die in the 
state of grievous personal or actual sin. 4th, that the suffer- 
ings of the damned are eternal. Other points, not explicitly 
contained in revelation, and which have not been defined by the 
Church, are not matters of faith. As to the nature and quality 
of the pains endured in hell, that for instance of a real, not a 
metaphorical fire, we fully adhere to the opinion commonly ac- 
cepted and taught in the Church, for such a doctrine, namely, the 
presence and action of real, true fire, is held as certain, so that 
it would be extremely rash to doubt it, or call it in question. ' ' 7 

171. What, then, we know from divine revelation, and from 
the teachings of its authorized, infallible interpreter, the Catho- 
lic Church, is that hell's torments are real, eternal, and incurred 
by death in mortal sin. Is not this terrible? And what more 
do we require to impress us with a salutary fear of God's judg- 

e Matt. xxv. 41. 7 See Mark ix, 42-47. See also Part VIII. 



98 The Remunerative and the 

ments? Rightfully therefore did Diderot (d. 1784) remark: 
"A sensible man will act in life, as though there was a hell, so 
long as even only one fragment of doubt as to its actual existence 
remains in his mind." And what, I say, should man's conduct 
be when he reflects that, as will be shown, the voice of divine 
revelation, the whole of Christendom, the promptings of reason, 
and the universal consent of mankind proclaim the existence and 
endless duration of that punishment, thus removing all doubts 
as to the stern reality of the punitive sanction, which the omnip- 
otent Judge placed upon His laws? 

CHAPTEE V 

AGREEMENT OF THE VERDICT OF REASON ILLU- 
MINED BY FAITH WITH THE DOCTRINE 
OF DIVINE REVELATION ON THE 
NECESSITY OF AN ENDLESS 
PUNITIVE RETRIBUTION 

This will be proved by the demonstration of two distinct 
propositions : 

FIRST PROPOSITION 

172. Human reason, dispassionately consulted, proves that 
everlasting punishment, taught by God's revelation, is just. 

We proceed to prove that such penalty is proportionate to the 
gravity of the offense for which it is inflicted. In fact, a pun- 
ishment that bears an equitable proportion with the disorderly 
act to be vindicated and avenged must be said to be quite just. 
And so it is, indeed, for a grievous sin, in a certain true sense, 
is said to be infinite. In fact, what is a grievous mortal sin ? It 
is an aversion or turning away from God, man's last and su- 
preme end, joined with an explicit or at least an implicit con- 
tempt of Him. Now, such an aversion and contempt constitute 
an offense of a gravity proportionate to the majesty, greatness, 
and dignity of the person offended. And the greater the dis- 
tance in dignity between the offender and the person offended, 
so much greater and grievous is the offense. As the person of- 
fended is God, an infinite Majesty, and the offender is a finite 
being, infinitely inferior to Him, it follows that in every grievous 
sin we find an injury and contempt in a certain manner infinite. 
Therefore, a punishment in some way infinite is due to it. Such 
a punishment cannot be infinite intensively ; first, because finite 
creatures are not capable of suffering infinite pain ; secondly, be- 
cause such infinity would render impossible the apportionment 
of punishment according to the degrees of guilt. The penalty, 
therefore, to bear an equitable proportion to the gravity of the 
offense, must be infinite in duration, that is, eternal. That the 



Punitive Sanction of God's Laws 99 

penalty should be infinite in duration may be shown by the fol- 
lowing additional reflections: A man dies impenitent in the 
state of mortal sin. Future punishment is the effect of grievous 
deadly sin, and it must endure as long as the sin, its cause, re- 
mains. Now, sin can be removed only by God's pardon and the 
infusion of sanctifying grace, on condition of timely repentance. 
As the granting of pardon, and the bestowal of sanctifying grace 
are by God's ordinance limited to the present world, the impeni- 
tent sinner's guilt will remain as long as he himself will last, 
that is, forever. No injustice can be detected in this that the 
penalty should last as long as the guilt, that is, eternally. This 
reasoning is fully sustained by Christ's own words in His Gos- 
pel: " He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost [that is, 
resist divine grace by refusing to repent in this life] shall never 
have forgiveness, but shall be guilty of an everlasting sin. ' ' x 
An everlasting sin surely deserves an everlasting punishment. 2 

For other arguments proving that the chastisement of re- 
bellious, obstinate, impenitent sinners, though finite in intensity, 
must be infinite in duration, see St Thomas. 3 

173. Shall we say that men can go on defying God, breaking 
His laws, despising His revelation, contemning the atonement 
of the world's Redeemer, and that the Almighty will, according 
to the Universalists ' theory, smile on His enemies for all eternity ? 
Can anybody suppose that God's omnipotence is unable to main- 
tain the moral government He has established upon earth ? Has 
He created beings which He cannot control? Has He peopled 
any part of the universe with creatures that may with impunity 
defy His authority ? Christian believers must recognize the fact 
that God, in Holy Scripture, speaks more often of His hatred 
of sin than He does of His mercy. Not because He is more just 
than merciful, for all His attributes are perfectly equal, but be- 
cause men stand in greater need of being reminded of God's 
anger against sinners than of His love for the just. Some in- 
dustrious Bible scholar ascertained the fact that the Bible speaks 
of God 's love twenty-eight times and it speaks not less than sixty 
times of His wrath and indignation against blasphemous and 
impenitent sinners. 

1 cannot vouch for the correctness of this calculation, first, be- 
cause I had no leisure to verify it, and secondly, because Protes- 
tant Bible scholars generally discard from their Canon of in- 
spired Books considerable portions and fragments which the 
Catholic Church has always recognized and revered as authentic 
and divinely inspired. At all events, the above calculation and 
comparison may be admitted as sufficiently exact, as far as it 
goes, for our purpose. All that are imbued with genuine Chris- 

i Mark iii. 29. 

2 St. Thomas in II. Sent., q. 43. 

3 la, 2nd, 2ae, qu. 87a, 3, 4, 5. In II Sent. dist. 42. Lessius, 1. xiii, c. 25. 
Patuzzi, 1. iii, c. 25. 



100 The Remunerative and the 

tian spirit feel the gravity of all offenses against God, and ex- 
hibit a tender care and solicitude for His honor. They do not 
make light of blasphemy, apostasy or atheism, as it is done by 
some modern governments under the wrong plea of liberty of 
conscience. They hold that insults to the Supreme Ruler of all 
nations rightly deserve punishments proportionate to the gravity 
of the crimes, such as are inflicted in the future world. 

SECOND PROPOSITION 

174. Eternal punishment is necessary to restrain man's will 
from evil-doing, and induce him to the keeping of God's com- 
mands. 

If we take into account man's fallen nature, the violence of 
his passions, the intoxicating allurements of sensible goods, par- 
ticularly the enticing pleasures of the flesh, and the hardship at 
times encountered in the practice of virtue, we cannot but be 
convinced of the fact that temporary penalties, however pro- 
longed, do not offer to men motives sufficiently strong to induce 
them to observance of the divine law in all the circumstances in 
which they may find themselves during the period of their trial 
or probation upon earth. This is shown by the criminals them- 
selves, who to give full scope to their disorderly passions, strive 
to persuade themselves and others that future punishments, if 
they exist at all, at least, are not eternal, or that the souls of the 
wicked will be annihilated, or, after due atonement, admitted to 
enjoy perfect happiness with the angels and the saints. Such 
attitude of impenitent, deluded sinners appears to be rather old, 
as it is seen from the following verses of the skeptical Roman 
poet, Lucretius: "If men were sure that there will certainly 
be an end to sufferings, they would have some reason for com- 
bating religion and resisting the threats of sages. But now 
they have neither reason, nor power of doing so, for they must 
fear the eternal pains after death. — Aeternas quoniam poenas in 
morte timendum. ,,4: St. Jerome remarks: " The most perverse 
belief, that hell's pains are to have an end, completely destroys 
the fear of God, and makes easy to men the career of sin ; since 
they think, with the heretic Origen, that even Satan, the chief 
author of many sins, will, after undergoing some suffering, be 
ultimately saved." 

When it is argued that it is the duty of a just, fair, impartial 
judge to inflict just punishment, we freely accept this correct 
principle of civil jurisprudence founded on reason and common 
sense, and maintain that it is acted upon by Him whose wisdom 
and holiness constitute the supreme, immutable standard of all 
justice. Eternal punishment being perfectly just, as it has been 
shown above, God acts in full harmony with His attribute of 
justice, when inflicting it on impenitent sinners. 

*De Rerum Natura I. 108. 



Punitive Sanction of God's Laws 101 

175. Some of our opponents are wont to argue as follows : 
As the principal purpose of punishment is to deter men from 

the transgression of God's laws, there can be no reason or motive 
for the existence of eternal hell, since such an end becomes per- 
fectly useless for the condemned. 

Here is our answer : In the first place, it is not true that the 
primary and chief scope of punishment is to deter men from the 
divine offense, and to bring about their correction and reform. 
For its principal purpose is the restoration of the moral order 
violated by sin, and a condign reparation of God's honor out- 
raged by sinners. Its infliction proclaims to the world the fact 
that divine laws cannot be transgressed with impunity; and 
warns surviving men against their violation ; and it might have 
benefited also the present reprobates, if, in their lifetime, they 
had heeded the many Scriptural threats and acted accordingly. 
This primary essential object is secured by endless punishment. 

176. In fact, it restores and repairs the violated order, not 
physically, for what has been done cannot be undone, but 
morally. For, as sinners by their evil doings publicly proclaim 
that they may refuse obedience to their Creator and Lord and 
fear no evil ; so punishment is a practical, public affirmation that 
all rational creatures are solemnly bound to submit to God's holy 
will under the menace of penalties that shall never end. This is 
the salutary truth taught us in Holy Writ: "Say not: How 
mighty am I? And who shall bring me under for my deeds? 
for God will surely take revenge. Say not : I have sinned, and 
what harm hath befallen me ? for the Most High is a patient re- 
warder. ' ' 5 

St. Augustine, commenting, as it were, on this text, writes: 
1 ' God is patient because He is eternal. Having a whole eternity 
in which to avenge His outraged majesty and repair the insults 
flung in His face, He can well afford to let the sinner run riot for 
the few years of his earthly existence, for as we read in Second 
Machabees vi. 26, men cannot escape the hand of the Almighty, 
neither alive nor dead. ' ' 6 

177. So much about the punishment's primary end. As to 
its secondary purpose, intended to deter men from transgressing 
God's laws, it is evident that it cannot fulfil such an object in 
behalf of the damned at the time of its infliction or after, though 
it was given as a warning to all, when as yet available. 

No one can deny the powerful efficacy of eternal punishment 
in effecting the conversion of even the most obdurate and invet- 
erate sinners. Many instances are related of sinners who, after 
bidding defiance to nearly all human and divine laws, were finally 
converted by a serious consideration of hell's interminable tor- 
ments awaiting the impenitent in the world to come. The An- 
gelic Doctor treats of this subject in his Summa — l a , 2 s8 , Qu. 87. 

5 Ecclus. v. 3, 4. 6 See Wisdom xvi. 15. 



102 The Remunerative and the 

178. The punishment inflicted by civil power, according to the 
provisions of the criminal codes, is not always medicinal for him 
who is condemned, but only for others surviving him. 

A criminal is executed, not to obtain his reform, rendered then 
impossible, but for the benefit of surviving citizens, that they, 
frightened, at least, by the fear of punishment, may desist from 
evil doings, according to the saying of the Book of Proverbs, 
' ' The wicked man being scourged, the fool shall be wiser. ' ' 7 
And the same may be said of the eternal pains inflicted on the 
wicked by divine justice. They are medicinal, exemplary and 
disciplinary only to those who are as yet in a condition to profit 
by them, as an inducement to avoid sin. The Royal Psalmist 
says: "Thou, O Lord, hast given a warning to them that fear 
Thee, that they may flee from before the bow. ' ' 8 

It is evident that the eternal damnation of the wicked is in- 
tended for the correction and reform of Christian peoples, the 
members of the militant Church for punishments are beneficial, 
both when inflicted and when threatened. 

Hence God's most benevolent purpose is to impress His ra- 
tional creatures with the truth that their greatest good enjoyable 
in the present world, and guaranteeing perfect, immense, end- 
less happiness in the next, consists in fulfilling all their obliga- 
tions to God, to themselves, and their fellow-men. We must also 
remember that the penalties allotted to the wicked are a conse- 
quence of the prevision of their deliberate transgression of God 's 
holy law, and their final impenitence. 

179. In this connection let the reader remember that God's 
foreknowledge of the reprobates' sins, of their ultimate impeni- 
tence and consequent damnation, does not at all interfere with 
their liberty, as it is shown by the solution of our opponents' 
objection given in Part VIII, n. 547. One testimony from a very 
distinguished writer will at present suffice for our purpose. 

St. John Chrysostom (A. D., 407) speaks thus: "We must 
not think that because scandals have been foreseen by God's 
prescience, therefore they will occur; but because they will, in 
the course of time, occur, He foresees them; and if they were 
not to occur, neither would He have foreseen and foretold them. ' ' 

Catholic philosophy, while admitting the attribute of fore- 
knowledge in God, attests, at the same time, the undeniable fact 
of the liberty and responsibility of man. 

180. The eighth and ninth parts of our volume will be spe- 
cially devoted to the solution of the main difficulties advanced 
by our opponents — against the revealed dogma of eternal pun- 
ishment. Here we briefly recall some objections that are more 
directly connected with our present subject, the certainty and 
necessity of the punitive sanction. 

7 Prov. xix. 25. 

s Ps. lix. 6. See St. Thomas, Suppl. 3ae p. Q u 99, Art. 1. 



Punitive Sanction of God's Laws 103 

First, it is asked : ' ' Cannot we hope that God 's infinite mercy 
will be strikingly displayed in finally delivering the unhappy 
reprobates from eternal damnation ? ' ' 

God's mercy is indeed infinite in itself, but not in its external 
manifestation, that is, in its actual exercise, or in its effects 
toward sinful creatures. Moreover, mercy can never conflict 
with other divine attributes, such as wisdom and justice. Whilst 
God is infinitely merciful, He is also infinitely just. In the pres- 
ent life He makes a most generous display of His mercy, almost 
forgetting, so to speak, the claims of His justice. These will be 
inevitably acted upon in the future world, where the exercise of 
pardon and clemency shall come to an end. 9 

Second, it is suggested: "But is it not reasonable that Al- 
mighty God, so wise and good, should make allowance for the 
extreme weakness of fallen man, born in sin, and for the violence 
of his rebellious passions?" 

God's wisdom and goodness made ample provision to offset 
man's weakness and inclination to evil, by supplying him with 
most efficacious means of resistance to temptation, such as the 
power of His grace, a help fully superior to all earthly and in- 
fernal attacks, which has been placed within the reach of all 
in answer to prayer. He is, moreover, assisted in his struggles 
against sin by the intercessory power of the angels and saints, 
and particularly by their Queen, the immaculate Mother of the 
Divine Saviour, who has been called by the Holy Fathers, Omni- 
potentia Supplex, supplicating omnipotence. Besides, did not 
Christ place at our disposal the potent aid of the sacraments of 
Penance and Holy Eucharist? 

Of the power of the devil, which sinners are wont to exag- 
gerate, and allege as pretexts to extenuate their falls, St. Augus- 
tine says : ' ' The devil, like a furious chained dog, may bark, but 
he will bite only those that come within his reach by yielding to 
temptation. — Latrare potest sed mordere non potest nisi volen- 
tem" 

181. It has also been asked: "May not Almighty God, as 
Sovereign Lord, exercise His power of clemency and the right of 
forgiveness by delivering the reprobates from their torments?" 

Answer: It is one thing to possess the power or right of 
clemency, and quite another thing to exercise or use it in behalf 
of the condemned. That God possesses such a right we willingly 
grant, but we deny that, as a matter of fact, He will ever exer- 
cise it in behalf of the reprobates by delivering them from their 
infernal prison. For God cannot act in direct opposition to the 
requirements of His wisdom and justice, and to the explicit de- 
crees He has proclaimed in Holy Scripture, where it is dis- 
tinctly announced that the exercise of mercy, clemency, and for- 
giveness is restricted to man 's present life. The following Scrip- 

9 See Psalms cxliv. 9, and lxxv. 8 on God's mercy and justice. 



104 The Remunerative and the 

tural quotations also disprove the theory of other trials and pro- 
bations in the future world : 

"Whatsoever thy hand is able to do, do it earnestly; for 
neither work, nor reason, nor wisdom, nor knowledge, shall be in 
the next world, whither thou art hastening. ' ' 10 Here the sacred 
writer evidently refers to the time before the coming of the 
Messias and before His ascension, when the souls of the just in 
Limbo could no longer gain any merit by any good works, 
through the exercise of their faculties. 

"You shall seek Me," said Christ to the obstinate Jews, "and 
you shall die in your sins. " xl St. Paul after quoting the words 
of the prophet Isaias: "In an acceptable time have I heard 
thee, and in the day of salvation have I helped thee, ' ' 12 adds : 
"Behold now is the acceptable time; behold now is the day of 
salvation. ' ' 13 

The same Apostle thus wrote to the Galatians, his converts: 
"Whilst we have time let us work good." 14 

Our Blessed Saviour, comparing the present life to the clear 
day, and the future life to the dark night, says of the latter: 
' ' The night cometh, when no man can work. ' ' 15 

182. Universalists have been compelled to acknowledge that 
not a single text can be cited from the Old Testament or from 
the New, which even hints at a continued or second probation 
after death. An American writer says : "I have long searched 
with anxious solicitude for a text in the Bible which would even 
seem to favor the idea of a future probation. I cannot find 
it." 16 

That the wicked in hell should wish their own annihilation 
is quite natural, and easily understood. But they know full well 
how vain such wishes are, for they learned, at their particular 
judgment, both the cause of their reprobation and its eternal 
duration. Their terrible discomfiture has been revealed in Holy 
Scripture in the following sentence of the Apocalypse, which the 
modern advocates of the annihilation scheme should bear in 
mind: "And in those days men shall seek death and shall not 
find it; and they shall desire to die, and death shall fly from 
them." 17 

The last subterfuge of our adversaries is thus expressed in 
their writings: "Has not Almighty God the power to annihi- 
late the souls of the wicked?" 

Answer: The real question at issue here is not whether the 
Supreme Creator possesses the absolute power of reducing to 
nothing any of His creatures, which no one can deny, for the 
infinite power needed for creation is certainly available also for 
annihilation. But the point to be established is whether the 

iQEccles. ix. 10. n John viii. 21. i 2 Is. xlix. 8. 

13 2 Cor. vi. 2. i* Gal. vi. 10. is John ix. 4. 

16 Oxenham, Catholic Eschatology, p. 145, note. i? Apoc. ix. 6. 



Punitive Sanction of God's Laws 105 

Creator is bound to and will ever use that power, particularly 
in regard to the souls of the reprobates. 

183. Our answer is an emphatic negative, for the following 
reasons borrowed mainly from St. Thomas : First, as it is the re- 
bellious will that acts contrary to God's law, so it is quite just 
that such will should be punished. Annihilation would do away 
with all punishment, particularly on the theory of those who 
hold that the reprobates are to be reduced to nothing immedi- 
ately after death, who will thus escape all penalties. 

Besides, the wicked, if annihilated, would be exempt from the 
punishment which they really fear, sensitive pains ; and by ceas- 
ing to exist, they will also be free from the eternal regret and 
remorse caused by the forfeiture of an infinite good, the sight, 
possession and enjoyment of God. Briefly, annihilation would 
be a penalty far from being proportionate to the gravity and 
duration of the offense, as noted above, and absolutely incapable 
of restraining man from the commission of sin. To give some 
completeness to the treatment of punitive sanction we were 
obliged to refer to the theories of Universalists, and annihila- 
tionists. What is here briefly hinted at, the reader will find 
amply discussed in Parts VII, VIII and IX. He will kindly 
pardon some unavoidable repetitions. 

"We have shown in this second part that the sanction of God's 
laws, whether remunerative or punitive, is perfect and sufficient, 
because it is eternal. We therefore took for granted the immor- 
tality of the soul, the subject of that sanction. What has been 
hitherto assumed as certain, is now proved at full length in the 
following part, devoted exclusively to the demonstration of the 
immortality of the human soul, and the consequent eternity of fu- 
ture retribution. 



PAET III 

THE IMMORTALITY OF MAN'S SOUL 

CHAPTEB I 

PRELIMINARY REMARKS 

184. In the preceding pages we spoke of the eternal retribu- 
tion that awaits man in the future world; a momentous truth 
clearly stated in Holy Writ, as will be shown later on in its 
proper place. As the twofold sanction discussed above neces- 
sarily implies the endless duration of the human soul, it would 
seem that we might at once proceed to treat of the special retri- 
bution promised to the just, and of the penalty threatened to the 
wicked, both of which have been proved to be certain and ever- 
lasting. We think, however, that the doctrine of man's eternal 
destiny will be more convincingly demonstrated if a part of our 
work will be specially devoted to the development of the proofs 
which reason, divine revelation, tradition, Church authority, and 
the general consent of mankind furnish on that paramount truth. 
This we shall do in this third part of our work on the immor- 
tality of the human soul. 

As we learn from revelation that both the soul and the body 
of man are destined to have an eternal duration, it seems that 
we should confirm from reason the endless existence of those two 
constituents of man. But as' the interminable duration of the 
human body, after the final resurrection, is a truth, not of 
reason, but of faith, and therefore known to us only from reve- 
lation, we shall have to treat of it in separate subsequent chap- 
ters. In the present and the next three chapters we limit 
our discussion to the demonstration of the immortality of the 
soul, as proved by arguments derived from reason. 

185. By "immortality" we mean that property of the human 
soul in virtue of which it survives the dissolution of the body at 
death, continuing in the possession of an endless, conscious exist- 
ence, to receive from God, in the future life, either reward or 
punishment, according to its deserts ; an irrevocable lot decided 
at the particular judgment, at the moment of its departure from 
this world. This world teems with wonders, evidences of God's 
infinite wisdom and omnipotent power; but by far the greatest 

107 



108 Proofs of the Immortality 

wonder is man himself, the possessor of a free, intelligent, un- 
dying soul. 

This truth forms the consolation of the just, and the terror of 
the wicked. The old Roman bard, Lucretius, expressed the 
ardent wish of both the ancient and the modern Epicureans, 
when he thus wrote in his poem, Be Rerum Natura, 1 "That 
dreadful fear of hell must be driven out, which disturbs the life 
of man and renders it miserable, overcasting all things with the 
gloom of death and leaving no tranquil unalloyed pleasure. ' ' 

186. If belief in immortality is done away with, the very con- 
cept of virtue and vice, of right and wrong, of justice and in- 
iquity will be swept out of existence, and, with it, every trace of 
order, civilization, and peace would entirely disappear. Still 
more dreadful consequences would follow from such a denial. 
In fact, what would then become of God? He would be looked 
upon as a sort of royal weakling, or the puniest lawgiver, utterly 
incapable of enforcing the laws governing the great human 
family and its individual members. It must be said that the 
abolition of all belief in the immortal existence of man's soul 
would sap the very foundations of our social fabric, and thus 
realize the wild schemes of anarchy and rank socialism through- 
out the length and breadth of the land. But, thank God, no 
such catastrophe need be feared, for, as we shall prove later on, 
Divine Providence made ample provision for the preservation of 
this master truth among the nations of mankind, as long as they 
shall inhabit this region of the planetary world. Moreover, the 
deeply rooted conviction of the soul's immortality in the con- 
science of the human race supplies one of the strongest refuta- 
tions of all materialistic opponents, past, present and future. 

187. We are concerned here with a truth which is not merely 
accessible to every individual who makes a right use of his un- 
derstanding, but is actually and in a measure easily apprehended 
under the guidance of an impulse inherent in all rational na- 
ture. This instinct, which asserts itself with irresistible strength 
in every age and among men of the most widely different de- 
grees of culture, is part and parcel of the rational nature of hu- 
manity. Now, it is impossible that a natural instinct, which is 
at one with reason (the sensus communis of the schoolmen) 
should lead men to a deliberate countenancing of error. Nature 
may be hard to read at times, but she never deludes us. Hence, 
the universal conviction of the immortality of the soul, and the 
certainty of a retribution to come, known to reason and sanc- 
tioned and safeguarded by primitive divine revelation, is based 
upon a real and solid foundation. To the materialists, who 
have derided this doctrine as a sheer delusion and a pleasing 
dream, we put this question : If the conviction of a future life 
is nothing but a dream, how does it come to be so universal ? By 

ii, iii, 37. 



Of the Human Soul 109 

what possible means could the subjective imaginings of this or 
that individual become the common property of humanity and 
make themselves felt as an essential and dominating factor in all 
men 's thoughts and desires ? For the question here is of a con- 
viction rooted in the consciousness of human dignity, in the 
ardent longings of men's hearts, and in the realized sense of in- 
completeness, which characterizes our life upon earth. The 
real worth of human existence is fully understood when it is 
looked upon in the light of eternity. Rousseau said in his 
Emile: "No argument of the so-called scientists, however 
subtle, will ever shake my belief in immortality. I am conscious 
of it, I desire it, and I will fight for it to my last breath. ' ' 

Immortality, the corner-stone of religion and morality, has 
been fiercely assailed and denied by many, not because it is not 
solidly proved, but because some of its opponents, reckless in 
their moral conduct, dread the awful responsibility which it en- 
tails in the endless world to come. It is our duty, then, to 
place this truth on a firm and impregnable basis, from which no 
amount of sophistry shall ever be able to dislodge it. 

188. Nothing but the consciousness of immortality can induce 
man to maintain himself at the level of his true dignity. "For 
as much," says Plato in his Phaedo, ''as the soul is manifestly 
immortal, there is no deliverance from future evil except by the 
attainment of the highest virtue and wisdom. ' ' Christian faith, 
thanks to the Divine Saviour's redemption, is satisfied with less. 
Sanctifying grace is enough to land us on the shores of eternal 
bliss. Encouraged by the prospect of heavenly happiness in the 
world to come, our life acquires an importance that cannot be 
exaggerated. Divine faith and grace give strength to curb un- 
ruly passions, to bear the sorrows of life without a murmur, and 
to comply courageously and joyfully with the injunctions of 
God's holy laws. Nothing is impossible, nothing is too difficult 
for heroic souls when there is a question of winning the palm 
of everlasting glory at the cost of many sacrifices and even of 
life itself, if need be, as millions of holy martyrs did. If our 
belief in a happy future existence, to be allotted to the just, is 
robust, clearly defined and beyond the power of human reason- 
ing to shake, we owe it to the religion of Jesus Christ and His 
Church, to whom He solemnly guaranteed freedom from all error 
and deception even to the end of the world. 

To account for the denial of the soul's immortality, so preva- 
lent in our days among the educated classes and professional 
men, the following reasons or causes, among others, have been 
assigned by thoughtful, observing men: False principles of 
philosophy; false science, the falsi nominis scientia, mentioned 
by St. Paul, 2 particularly extreme evolutionism, a theory dia- 
metrically opposed to the concepts of spirituality and immor- 

2 1 Tim. vi. 20. 



110 Proofs of the Immortality 

tality predicated of man's soul. Add the skeptical habits now so 
common and the desire of appearing before the public as being 
in full agreement with the latest, most up-to-date, advanced 
views held and taught by university professors, though they 
may never have been made the subject of conscientious examina- 
tion. Byron at twenty-three petulantly wrote: "I will have 
nothing to do with your immortality; we are miserable enough 
in this life without the absurdity of speculating upon another. ' ' 
Though a modern scientist designated the immaterial, undying 
principle within ourselves as a vapid figment, yet we confidently 
affirm that science, if rightly interrogated, bears witness to the 
incorporeal nature, the independent action, the distinct person- 
ality, and the indestructibleness of the human soul. 

Of all grave, serious questions that may occupy the human 
mind, there is none so important in itself and so far-reaching 
in its consequences as the question of the interminable hereafter 
awaiting all human beings beyond the tomb. Fortunately there 
is no room for doubt on this momentous truth proclaimed by 
divine revelation and demonstrated by the voice of reason. In- 
deed, the strength of the Catholic position rests not only on 
special proofs taken singly, but also and particularly on the cu- 
mulative force of the many arguments that support it, and pro- 
duce a certainty, which is simply irresistible in the mind of any 
man that is open to conviction. 



CHAPTER II 

THE IMMORTALITY OF MAN'S SOUL PROVED FROM 

REASON 

189. First: Immortality, that is, endless duration in exist- 
ence, may belong to a being either necessarily, or naturally, or 
miraculously. It belongs necessarily or essentially to that being 
which is self -existent, whose existence is identical with its essence, 
and therefore exists by such absolute necessity that its non- 
existence would involve a downright absurdity and contradiction. 
When, therefore, to be, to exist, constitutes the very essence of a 
being, to such a being immortality belongs necessarily and essen- 
tially. What reason teaches is fully confirmed by God's own 
revelation. In fact, to the question of Moses: "What shall I 
say, if the children of Israel ask me what is the name of Him 
that sent me?" The Lord made this answer : ' ' Thus shalt thou 
say to the children of Israel : He who is, hath sent me to you. ' ' 1 

There is only one such a Being and that is God, who, on that 
account, is more properly called eternal, as His existence has 
neither beginning nor end. And it is in this sense that St. Paul 

i Ex. iii. 13, 14. 



Of the Human Soul 111 

writes in his first letter to Timothy: "The King of kings and 
Lord of lords, who only hath immortality. ' ' 2 God alone is im- 
mortal by essence. His rational creatures, angels and human 
souls, are immortal by participation. 

Secondly: Immortality belongs naturally to a being which, 
though contingent — that is, not existing by any necessity of its 
own nature — yet has been so intrinsically constituted by its Crea- 
tor that it cannot cease to exist except through the action of Di- 
vine Omnipotence annihilating it. That God will never exer- 
cise such a power, even on one single angelic spirit or human 
soul, will be proved in its proper place in the sequel. This par- 
ticipated or natural immortality belongs to angels and human 
souls. 

Thirdly : A being is said to be miraculously or supernaturally 
immortal, which, though material in its nature or composition, 
and therefore destined to disintegration, dissolution, and cor- 
ruption, yet is preserved in its existence and integrity by a 
miracle of Divine Omnipotence. Such was the body of our first 
parents, Adam and Eve, in their state of innocence. To this 
miraculous or supernatural immortality are applied the follow- 
ing words of the inspired writer: "God created man incor- 
ruptible. ' ' 3 The sacred writer here evidently refers to the 
miraculous incorruptibility granted to man's body in the state 
of innocence, for his soul, being spiritual, is naturally incor- 
ruptible. Of the restoration of this gift by Christ's redemp- 
tion St. Paul discourses at great length in his first Epistle to the 
Corinthians: "As in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall 
be made alive. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is 
sown in corruption, it shall rise in incorruption. ' ' 4 

It is plain that we are here exclusively concerned at present 
with the immortality of the human soul belonging to it, not essen- 
tially, nor miraculously, but naturally. 

It is well known that the chief psychological or metaphysical 
proof of the immortality of the soul is derived from its spiritu- 
ality; a truth which we might take for granted, but which we 
have been advised to demonstrate. 

Moreover, as will be shown, the metaphysical argument, based 
on the spiritual nature of the soul, constitutes only one out of the 
many rational proofs of its immortality. 

ADVERSAEIES 

190. In the first place, the principal opponents of this truth 
are, of course, the materialists. According to them, the whole 
man perishes when the physico-chemical elements constituting 
the human organism are disintegrated and dissolved by death. 
In plain language, the great anxiety of the materialists and the 
main object of all their efforts are directed to persuade them- 

2 1 Tim. vi. 15, 16. 3 Wis. ii. 23. « 1 Cor. xv. 22, 42. 



112 Proofs of the Immortality 

selves and others that there is no such thing as future life with 
its eternal sanction. It is on this account, and not for scien- 
tific reasons, that they deny human responsibility and the spiritu- 
ality and immortality of the soul. 

In the second place, we must mention the partisans or de- 
fenders of the so-called voluntary immortality. Their theory 
consists in this, that man may freely choose either an honest life, 
to be rewarded by eternal happiness, or a sinful life, which will 
end in nothing, and thus be punished by annihilation. 

191. Among the defenders of this theory are reckoned the 
French authors, Charles Lambert, M. Pitavel, M. Eenouvier, 
and not a few modern English writers, whose leader and spokes- 
man is the Rev. Edward White, Congregational minister. 

This erroneous and antichristian scheme, devised to replace 
the divinely revealed dogma of eternal punishment, has been 
ably refuted by Catholic authors, among whom Msgr. Elie Merie 
in his two volumes entitled "L 'Autre Vie," and Pere Felix, S. J., 
in his "Eternite," p. 387, and H. N. Oxenham in his " Catholic 
Eschatology and Universalism," deserve special mention. "We 
shall deal with this hypothesis of voluntary immortality and 
free annihilation in Part IX. 

192. Before establishing the truth of the soul's immortality, 
we must briefly treat of its nature, of its simplicity and spiritu- 
ality, preliminary notions preparing the way to the demonstra- 
tion of its endless existence after its separation from the body by 
death. 

By the soul we mean that principle or force, in virtue of which 
man feels, thinks, and wills; a definition on which all sound 
philosophers are agreed. 

The soul, being essentially distinct from the body, which it 
informs and animates, is simple both as to quantity and as to 
essence. 

It is quantitatively simple, for it does not consist of integrant 
parts ; it is essentially simple, because it is not made up of sev- 
eral constituent elements. 

By affirming the soul's simplicity we mean to state that it is 
not composed of separate parts, or of diverse principles of any 
kind ; consequently that it is not extended. 

According to Catholic philosophy the soul is the principle of 
life and of its vital acts, feeling, thinking, and willing. Life is 
the activity by which a being moves itself. But motion in man 
is not only physical, as in the lower animals, but also intellec- 
tual and moral. 

A. The human soul is a simple substance. 

Many are the arguments alleged by philosophers to prove that 
it is simple. Brevity compels us to limit the reader's attention 
to only two of them, which seem both clear and conclusive. 

I. We are all intimately conscious of the fact that we may ex- 



Of the Human Soul 113 

perience several different sensations at the same time, and com- 
pare them with one another. This could not be done if our soul 
were something extended, and therefore not simple but material. 
Here is our reason. These different sensations are either located 
in diverse parts of the feeling subject, or are all gathered in one 
single part. If they reside in diverse parts, none of them will 
be conscious, at the same time, of all the scattered sensations, 
hence comparison between them will be impossible. If, on the 
other hand, the sensations are all gathered together in one part 
of the sentient subject, we ask the materialist whether this part 
is simple or extended. If he says that it is simple, then he 
grants that the sentient soul is simple, the very conclusion we 
are after. If he says that it is extended or compound, then we 
resort again to the preceding question, and show that such a 
subject, on account of its bodily extension, is incapable of ex- 
periencing different sensations simultaneously, and of compar- 
ing them together. 

II. A somewhat similar argument can be drawn from the 
simplicity of intellectual, abstract ideas formed by the human 
soul, an effect that cannot be attributed to the activity of an ex- 
tended, composite substance, such as, for instance, the brain. 
Take for an illustration the indivisible concept or idea, truth, 
and let us see whether such an idea may be the result of any 
activity found in that extended substance, the brain. This might 
happen only on one or other of these three suppositions : 

1. Different parts of the same idea, truth, may belong to differ- 
ent parts of the brain; 

2. Or each part of the brain may be the subject or recipient 
of that entire idea; 

3. Or again the whole idea may pertain to one single part 
of the brain. 

None of these three suppositions can be admitted. 

Not the first, for the concept of truth is an indivisible thought ; 
hence it cannot be distributed over the different parts of the 
composite substance, the brain, or over any aggregate of separate 
atoms. 

Neither may we admit the second supposition, because if the 
different parts of the composite substance — the brain in our 
hypothesis — were each the basis or recipient of a whole com- 
plete idea, we should have at the same time not one but several 
ideas of the same object, a result flatly contradicted by the testi- 
mony of our inner consciousness. 

The third and last supposition must also be rejected, for if the 
whole idea were located only in one part or element of the brain, 
we would then ask: "Is this part composite or simple?" If 
the latter, then our contention that the ultimate subject of 
thought is simple and indivisible is granted. If the former is 
allowed, then the whole series of impossible alternatives will re- 



114 Proofs of the Immortality 

cur again, until our opponents are finally driven to admit our 
conclusion, that the human soul is simple and immaterial. This 
argument, like a sword sharpened on its two sides, proves at the 
same time both the simplicity and the spirituality of man's soul. 5 

B. The human soul, besides being simple, is also spiritual. 

193. Spirituality expresses a good deal more than simplicity, 
for a being may be simple without being spiritual ; such as the 
soul of all inferior animals, the brute creation. That substance 
is called spiritual, which, in many of its operations, does not de- 
pend on the concurrent action of material organs and can there- 
fore exist, live, and act without the body. 

The human soul is a spiritual substance. Among the soul's 
operations that are entirely independent of all material organs 
are reckoned those which not only do not need them, but more- 
over cannot be at all performed with them. Such are the fol- 
lowing operations of the soul 's intellect. In fact, it can perceive 
and understand such notions and ideas as possibility and impos- 
sibility, necessity and contingency, time and eternity, honesty, 
holiness, virtue, vice, right, wrong, beauty, turpitude, liberty, 
slavery, animal, rational, God, angels, etc. Moreover, it is in the 
region beyond the reach of sense that man works at his syllo- 
gisms, forms thoughts and judgments, solves mathematical prob- 
lems and is made aware of those behests of conscience which it is 
in his power either to obey or resist. 

Now all these notions, being confessedly immaterial, cannot be 
reached by a purely material, bodily organ or instrument; for 
the body can only reach and act on a bodily substance. There 
follows, then, from our reasoning, this inevitable conclusion, that 
the power, force, or agent capable of performing the above- 
mentioned intellectual operations, is entirely independent in those 
and similar actions of all material organs. Such power, force, or 
agent is man 's soul. Therefore the soul of man is a spiritual be- 
ing independent of matter in its intellectual and volitional acts. 
To attribute the foregoing operations to a material faculty would 
be to run counter to these two self-evident metaphysical axioms : 

First: That no effect can be superior to its cause. 

Secondly: That every effect must have a proportionate cause. 

We must, then, admit in man a vital, immaterial, spiritual 
principle or cause. This is no other than his soul. It has 
therefore been proved that man's soul is spiritual. 

The soul, then, is evidently spiritual since it forms the uni- 
versal, which may be called a spiritualized essence; compares 
ideas; constructs judgments; and, by the process of reasoning, 
passes from one known truth to an unknown. It understands 
purely spiritual objects, reflects upon its own acts and upon 
itself; it seeks the spiritual even in the material, is endowed 

s See Maher's Psychology, p. 467. 



Of the Human Soul 115 

with freedom in such a way that no material object can deter- 
mine or force it. 

objections 

194. To refute some of the chief objections advanced by ma- 
terialists against the spirituality of the human soul, the follow- 
ing observations must be borne in mind : 

I. We freely admit that, in spite of the progress of science and 
general knowledge, we have but inadequate, imperfect ideas con- 
cerning matter and the thinking faculty. But, on the other 
hand, we contend that enough is known on this subject to detect 
such contradictory properties in matter and thought, as are ab- 
solutely incompatible. In fact, matter is essentially composite 
and extended, and can act only on material substances, whilst 
the thinking faculty, being simple and unextended, requires for 
its subject objects that are wholly immaterial. 

II. When they tell us that organic matter, possessing, as it does, 
such wonderful properties, might be so improved in its organiza- 
tion as to exercise intellectual acts, we reply that organization, 
however perfect, cannot change the essential constitution of mat- 
ter, and transform it into a thinking subject. 

First Objection: To identify the soul with the body, and to 
show thereby that it is a material being, it is argued thus : The 
soul is subject to the same changes and vicissitudes as the body. 
In fact, it grows, and becomes old with the growth and aging of 
the body. 

Answer: This broad assertion cannot be admitted, as it is not 
quite true, for the growth of the two constituent parts of the hu- 
man compound is essentially different. The body grows as to 
its substance by the accession of new matter, whilst the soul 
grows only in regard to its habits, experience, knowledge, acts, 
virtue, etc. In youth, when the body is quite strong and ro- 
bust, the strength of mind and maturity of judgment are quite 
inferior to those of old age, when the body becomes weak and 
debilitated. The soul is often opposed to the things which prove 
pleasing to the body. The body may be compelled to act, but 
not the soul. A part of the body may be amputated ; e. g., an 
arm or a limb; though the soul remains untouched and unim- 
paired. 

195. The intimate experience of every one of us establishes 
beyond all doubt the existence in man of phenomena or effects 
that are sensitive and organic, as well as the presence of imma- 
terial acts. There must therefore be two distinct principles or 
causes of those phenomena and acts, one material, the other 
spiritual. 

On the other hand the testimony of experience evidently 
proves that these two principles are not two distinct individuals. 
each of them possessing an independent personality, placed in 



116 Proofs of the Immortality 

juxtaposition and even penetrating each other, one ruling the 
other, as the rider controls his horse. 

The real fact is that soul and body complete each other, and 
mutually concur, each in its own sphere, in forming one human 
nature ; the same individual, the same identical person, that has 
the consciousness of seeing, of hearing, of moving, etc. — all 
sensitive acts— also perceives his immaterial, spiritual, and in- 
tellectual acts, such as his thoughts, his wishes, his delibera- 
tions, etc. 

196. This intimate union of body and soul must necessarily 
produce reciprocal influences between the two constituent ele- 
ments, the sensible and the spiritual. Under the impulse received 
from external objects, our organs react, the nervous excitation 
transmitted to the brain produces therein an internal image. 
Then it is that the intellectual faculty comes into play and forms 
ideas, judgments and reasonings. 

197. Second Objection: It is argued by materialists that the 
intellect cannot be said to be a purely spiritual faculty, for in 
the exercise of its activity it essentially depends upon the body; 
in fact, when the latter 's organism is injured, for instance, by a 
severe concussion of the brain, the operations of the former are 
interfered with, or even at times entirely prevented. 

Answer: To this difficulty we answer with St. Thomas, that in 
such case the action of the intellect is interfered with, not essen- 
tially and directly, but only accidentally and indirectly. The 
operations of the intellect are not exercised through corporeal 
organs; hence, when such organs are vitiated, its activity is not 
stopped on that account. However, when some derangement 
occurs in the organs, or in the nervous system, and especially 
in the brain, the exercise of the organic faculties, such as sensi- 
bility, imagination, which depend on those organs, is naturally 
disturbed. Now, since the integrity of such faculties is required 
as a condition for the normal operations of the intellect in the 
present state of union of the soul with the body, for instance to 
supply it with suitable materials, it happens that the derange- 
ment of the organs indirectly interferes with the functions of the 
intellect, and it is exactly by such interference that we can ac- 
count for the raving and unconnected reasoning of sick persons 
subject to intense fever. 

So long as the soul remains united to the body, it cannot reach 
the knowledge of exterior things, except through the help of 
phantasms or ideal images of things supplied from the actions 
of the sensitive faculties, that are placed in contact with the ex- 
ternal world. Hence the sayings of the schoolmen : Nihil est in 
intellectu quod prius non fuerit in sensu; namely, Nothing is in 
the intellect but what has before been in the senses. Intellectus 
noster nihil intelligit sine phantasmate, that is, Our intellect un- 
derstands nothing without a phantasm or image. 



Of the Human Soul 117 

When, therefore, an organic faculty, such as our instruments 
of sensation ; e. g. sight, hearing, the nervous and cerebral sys- 
tems, etc., fail to act normally, the intellect also suffers, not on 
account of any intrinsic disturbance in its nature, which remains 
unimpaired, but for want of suitable objects or materials, which 
can no longer be furnished by the injured faculties of sensation. 
Give to a Raphael the worst canvas, pencil, and colors ; or to a 
Canova a very inferior kind of marble, and no matter how grand 
their conceptions might be in their minds, they will never be 
able to give them an outward expression worthy of their genius ; 
and this not on account of defective talent, but rather for want 
of suitable materials. 

Third Objection: The intellectual faculties are found to be 
developed and altered with the brain, or even to disappear along 
with it. Therefore, they are simply functions of the brain. 
This is the materialists' argument as commonly stated in their 
works. 

198. Answer: The facts we have alleged to show the intel- 
lectual and spiritual activity of the mind are incontestable, 
and asserted by all the spiritualistic schools. The dis- 
coveries of modern science in physiology, medicine, surgery, 
etc., have only placed in clearer light the mechanism of 
the organic functions, leaving untouched and unanswered all 
the peremptory arguments usually employed in vindicating 
the spiritual character and nature of the soul as opposed 
to materialism. So we know more in our days about the 
structure and convolutions of the brain, about the so-called 
centers of association of Flechsig, the results of trepanning, 
etc. 

But the objection proves at most, what we freely grant, that 
the brain is the chief organ of the sensitive faculties, whose func- 
tion is required as a condition necessary to set in motion the 
spiritual activity of the soul. And this condition arises from 
the fact of the intimate union of body and soul in the present 
life. What would be said of the following manner of arguing, 
identical with that of materialists? Vegetation, sensation can- 
not be produced except under certain determined conditions of 
air, temperature, water, light, etc., and they are altered, deteri- 
orated or even destroyed, if those faculties or conditions are 
altered, deteriorated or entirely removed. Therefore, vegeta- 
tion and sensation are produced by the air, the temperature, the 
light, etc. Would not this be to confound the condition with the 
cause? Thus, to bring a familiar illustration, I cannot see ob- 
jects in the dark; if a light is brought in, shall I say that it is 
the light that sees the objects and not my eyes? By no means, 
for the presence of the light is not the cause, but only the condi- 
tion of vision. What the light is to the eye, the brain is to the 
intellect. It is simply the condition required for the normal 



118 Proofs of the Immortality 

action of the intellect ; but it is not the cause of its intellectual 
operations. 

Fourth Objection: This one single nature, consisting of two 
elements, one spiritual, and the other material, is something in- 
conceivable, contradictory, absurd. 

199. Answer: (a) Yes, it is mysterious and obscure, we 
grant. But, we may ask our opponents, chemical affinity, at- 
traction, gravitation, vegetation, electricity, magnetism, the 
existence of ether in starry space assured by scientists, are 
all these things easily understood? Do they contain no mys- 
tery? Nay, there have been found scientific men, who pro- 
nounced those things as incomprehensible as the concept of 
a spirit, the idea of a soul. ' ' To believe in the existence of ma- 
terial objects is but a convenient hypothesis," says Poincare, in 
his "Mathematical Theory of Light." (Ed. 1889. Preface.) 

(b) This union of soul and body and the consequent forma- 
tion of one individual, one single person, do not present to our 
mind any absurd idea. Where is the absurdity in this that 
an element of a superior nature communicates to an element of 
inferior order some of its perfection, such as life, sensation, 
etc? Again, is there any absurdity in the fact that a superior 
principle requires for the exercise of certain faculties, the inti- 
mate concurrence of an inferior principle? 

(c) After all, this union affords the only satisfactory explana- 
tion possible of experimental facts. 

THE SOUL'S IMMORTALITY 
FIRST PROOF — TAKEN FROM ITS SPIRITUALITY 

We shall successively prove : 

I. That the soul is naturally immortal. 

II. That, as a matter of fact, it will actually live forever. 

200. I. The soul is naturally immortal. In fact, all spiritual 
beings are, by their own nature, immortal ; and this must, there- 
fore, be true of the soul, which, as we have shown, is a spiritual 
being. 

Spiritual substances cannot suffer death or cessation of ex- 
istence, as they do not contain in themselves any principle or 
cause of corruption or disintegration, what will evidently appear 
from the following reflections : A thing may be intrinsically de- 
stroyed for two reasons: either because it is composed of parts 
distinct from each other, which, when once disconnected or 
separated, cause the thing itself to perish ; or because though- not 
composed of parts, but simple, as the soul of inferior animals, it 
may depend, like accidents, for the continuance of its existence 
on something else which, being destroyed or injured, the being 
itself ceases to be. As the human soul is a spiritual being, it 
does not, like matter, consist of parts; neither is it an accident 



Of the Human Soul 119 

depending upon the body for its existence, but is a subsistent 
being. 

But perhaps the soul, once separated from the body, will not 
be able to act ; and consequently there being no reason to justify 
its further existence, it will simply disappear and cease to be. 
No, this cannot be ; for we reckon among its faculties operations 
which are independent of matter ; it can think, it can will. We 
may, then, logically conclude that the soul, being naturally im- 
mortal, can survive the body ; in other words, it can continue to 
live even when separated from it by death. True, in the present 
state the soul cannot think without the aid of the imagination; 
but the necessity of the imagination for some mental operations 
is easily accounted for, owing to the union of the soul with the 
body in the present life ; but such a necessity will cease to exist 
when the soul is separated from its material organism. As the 
conditions of the soul's existence in the next life are changed, 
it is but natural that the conditions of its activity should like- 
wise be different. In other words, the necessity of the work of 
the imagination is merely extrinsic, owing to the actual union of 
soul and body. This is precisely the teaching of St. Thomas, as 
it is seen in the following citations: P. I a , Qu. 75, Art. 6, and 
Qu. 89, Art. I. 

201. II. The soul will actually survive the body. This is 
easily proved, for no cause shall destroy it. 

(a) No creature possesses the power of annihilating the works 
of the Creator. Here we invoke the authority of some of our 
adversaries themselves, particularly of the scientific men of our 
days, who lay great stress on the principle that there is no 
natural force capable of annihilating even one atom of matter. 
When, therefore, the continued existence of the spiritual soul is 
once established, we may assert that for a stronger reason 
(a fortiori) such a soul cannot be destroyed by any creature. 
We say for a stronger reason, for if material beings, which can 
be subjected to the action of both natural and artificial forces, 
cannot be reduced to nothing, the annihilation of spiritual be- 
ings will be still more impossible, as they are placed entirely 
beyond the reach of those forces. 

202. The following consideration will lead us to the same con- 
clusion : To annihilate a being means to subtract or remove that 
being from God's preservative action absolutely required for 
the continuance of its existence, and reduce it to nothing. But 
it is plain that no creature, however mighty, can act in opposi- 
tion to the divine action, prevent the exercise of God's power 
and thus interfere with the existence of a contingent being. 
Therefore, no creature whatever can annihilate the human soul, 
and thus deprive it of its existence. 

(b) God will not destroy the human soul. In the first place, 



120 Proofs of the Immortality 

to create a soul naturally immortal in order to annihilate it in- 
volves a contradiction entirely repugnant to infinite wisdom; a 
contradiction, mind well, that cannot be justified. Nothingness 
being absolutely useless, annihilation would be an action without 
a purpose; whilst the soul, if immortal, can attain the last end 
of creation and always procure the glory of God, either by prais- 
ing Him in the splendor of eternal beatitude, or by proclaim- 
ing His justice in the everlasting abyss of the reprobates. No. 
71. 

The several arguments against the soul's annihilation by God's 
power will be fully stated and developed particularly in Parts 
VII, VIII, and IX. 

203. We can develop the preceding arguments more clearly 
still if we proceed by logical steps as follows: 

First Question: Can the soul, when separated from the 
body, continue to exist and live? 

Answer: It can certainly exist, for being a substance en- 
tirely distinct from the body, excluding all material components 
and being independent of bodily organs in its intellectual and 
volitional operations, it can certainly survive the corruption of 
the body, to which it was not simply inhering, as if it had been 
an accident. 

It can doubtless live. Its life essentially consists in the opera- 
tions of the intellect and will, and, in the state of separation, it 
retains both the power and the objects needed for both those 
spiritual functions. It has the power, for both intellect and will 
remain in the soul, to which they essentially belong. 

Neither are suitable objects wanting, for if in the present life 
the most lofty, noble objects, such as Almighty God, His perfec- 
tions, truth, virtue, etc., can be contemplated more and more 
perfectly in proportion to our abstraction from sensible things, 
our soul, once freed from the body, will be able to understand 
and contemplate those same objects so much the more easily and 
perfectly when free from bodily hindrances, the gravedo or im- 
pediment of the material organism, as St. Thomas observes. 
Therefore, the assertion that no activity can be exercised by the 
soul after its separation from the body is quite incorrect, for 
those activities which require no bodily organ will certainly re- 
main. It is plain that so long as the soul is united to the body, 
it cannot reach the knowledge of external things except through 
the help of phantasms or ideal images of objects supplied from 
the sensitive faculties. Hence the saying of the schoolmen: 
''Nothing comes to the intellect but what has been before in the 
senses." But in the state of separation the soul will act after 
the manner of the angelic spirits, since the manner of acting of 
a being follows its mode of being or manner of existence. 
Operatio sequitur esse. 



Of the Human Soul 121 

Moreover, the ideas and cognitions acquired during life, being 
preserved by intellectual memory, will furnish to the soul abund- 
ant matter for its mental activity. 

204. As the soul in the state of separation has a new mode 
of existence, God, the Author of nature, through the divinely 
infused images or species, supplies it with what is needed for its 
natural operations. 

The soul retains the knowledge acquired in life through the 
process of abstraction. 

The soul knows God and itself, the angelic creatures and 
separate souls. 

The soul, then, can exercise intellectual acts because its specific 
substantial entity, that is, its intelligent entity, suffered no 
change either in its essence or in its activities. 6 

205. The solution of the following difficulty will throw con- 
siderable light on our present subject : The brain, says the ma- 
terialist, is the organ of the mind. For every act of conscious- 
ness there is presumably a corresponding physical modification. 
How can the mind act and the soul live when that organ is lost 
by death? 

Addressing himself to the very root of this difficulty, namely, 
the absence of the brain, Professor James argues thus : 

" Agreed; we accept the position, that the brain is the organ 
of the mind. But such a statement is susceptible of at least two 
altogether different interpretations. The organ may either pro- 
duce that of which it is the instrument, or its function may be 
limited to that of transmission. In our experience, for example, 
electricity is associated with things like batteries, dynamos and 
wires. The wire is the organ of the electric current. [The 
argument, of course, was formulated before the days of wire- 
less, but ethereal vibrations will answer the purpose just as well.] 
Without the wire there could be no manifestation of electricity. 
But nobody supposes that the wire produces that of which it is 
the transferring organ, or that the electricity ceases to exist when 
the wire is disconnected, or destroyed. It ceases indeed to mani- 
fest itself to us ; but we know that this absence of manifestation 
is not identical with non-existence. And so, for all we know, it 
may be with mind. Its manifestation to us is dependent upon 
the normal, efficient functioning of those particular items in 
consciousness, which we call the brain and nervous system. But 
nothing in our experience, scientific or otherwise, entitles us to 
say that the mind could not exist apart from its organs, or that 
it might not, under other conditions, and to other conscious 
agents be manifested through some agency of different nature 
adapted to its new mode of existence. Nor is it yet, by any 
means, demonstrated that the connection between brain and 

6 St. Thomas De Anima, Disp. 8, and De Veritate, Qu. xix. 



122 Proofs of the Immortality 

mind is of a nature of a complete parallelism, as if neither of 
them could exist independently of the other. One must there- 
fore dismiss the materialistic denial of immortality as a piece of 
dogmatism, unsupported by logical reasons." 7 (See nn. 197, 
198.) 

"Telegraphic communications cannot, as every one knows, be 
established without a simultaneous chemical process in the bat- 
tery. But the message delivered by the wire, the contents of the 
telegram, can by no means be regarded as a function of this elec- 
tro-chemical process. This holds with still greater force of the 
relation of thought to the brain. The brain is not the soul, but 
only the instrument of the soul. And the soul, not coming 
within the reach of sense-perception, is not an object of investi- 
gation for physics or anatomy. Thought, subjectively accurate, 
is also objectively true. Were it not for this inalterable har- 
mony, ^ pre-established by God, between subject and object, all 
our thinking would necessarily be without fruit. ' ' 8 

206. Second Question: Can man's soul be deprived of its ex- 
istence by any created agent? 

Answer: We give to this question an emphatic negative re- 
ply, for it is proved in philosophy that the same omnipotent 
power that is required for creation is also needed for annihilation, 
a truth admitted also by modern scientists. But let us suppose, 
for argument's sake, that there should exist some created being 
capable of reducing the human soul to nothing. Will it be pos- 
sible for it to exercise that power? No, by no means. Because 
no secondary cause, such as a creature, can act without the con- 
currence of God, the primary cause. God having so made the 
soul of man that it is destined to last forever, no created agent 
can destroy it, for no creature can frustrate and impede the de- 
signs of the Creator. (See n. 202.) 

207. Third Question: Will God ever exercise the power of 
annihilating the human soul? 

Answer: Here again we give a negative answer. That Al- 
mighty God possesses the absolute power of bringing to noth- 
ing whatever He created, no one can deny. But here a most im- 
portant distinction is to be held in mind. The power is one 
thing, but its actual exercise is quite another. When we speak 
of God's omnipotence, His power to do all things, we must take 
into account His other attributes, such as His wisdom and justice, 
and remember this principle of sound philosophy, that Almighty 
God will never exercise an attribute, such as omnipotence, un- 
less such an act be in perfect harmony with His other attributes 
of wisdom, justice, holiness, etc. 

7 Criticisms of Life, by Horace J. Bridges. Evidence of Immortality, 
p. 127. 

s Robert Mayer, in Kneller's book, p. 18. 



Of the Human Soul 123 

Should God decide to annihilate the human soul, it is certain 
that He would not do so without a motive or reason worthy of 
His infinite wisdom and justice. Let our opponents assign some 
such motive, if they can. They have none. "We show on the 
contrary that most wise and just reasons require the permanent 
existence of man's soul in a future world. As several such 
reasons have already been alleged and developed in the preced- 
ing part of our work, when we proved the necessity of a perfect, 
eternal sanction of God's laws, we will here simply give a few 
additional remarks. 

First: Human reason affirms that in God's sight the condi- 
tion of a man, who breaks the divine law, cannot be the same as 
that of him who faithfully observes it. But were this the only 
life, both the just and the wicked would finally meet with the 
same lot, annihilation. This result would be irreconcilable with 
the providence of a just, equitable, wise God. 

208. Moreover, God will not annihilate any of the blessed 
souls admitted to heaven, because their annihilation would be an 
act directly contrary to justice, as it would deprive such a soul 
of the reward merited by its fidelity and loyalty to God, 
for whose sake it subdued and conquered its inordinate de- 
sires in order to avoid the divine offense and obey His holy 
law. 

Secondly: If such arbitrary annihilation should not be pre- 
dicted and known, the annihilated soul would be the victim of a 
huge, cruel deception, which is absolutely impossible in a God 
of infinite goodness and veracity. 

Neither will God annihilate any of the reprobate souls, and 
thus deliver them from endless suffering: an infliction due to 
impenitent sinners for many reasons, of which we here only 
recall the following two, as others, not less cogent, will be dis- 
cussed in Parts VIII and IX : 

First: Because in sin, as St. Thomas argues, it is the will of 
man that acts against God, not his human nature, which of itself 
tends to the observance of the moral order, which He has estab- 
lished. Therefore the punishment must chastise the real culprit, 
the will, whilst afflicting the human nature abused by the will in 
the commission of sin. Now if the creature were to be reduced 
to nothing, only the nature of man would be punished by anni- 
hilation, and not his guilty, rebellious will. 

Secondly: It belonged to God's most wise providence to 
furnish to men a motive amply sufficient to restrain them from 
evil doings and induce them to the observance of His law, even 
when confronted by the most alluring temptations. Such a 
motive is actually supplied by the terrible, punitive, eternal 
retribution threatened to the impenitent sinners in the next 
world. But should there exist any hope or probability that 



124 Proofs of the Immortality 

some of the damned souls will be annihilated, the fear of eternal 
punishment would lose much of its efficacy, as many reckless 
sinners would put no bounds to their wickedness and impiety, 
encouraged by the hope that their soul might finally be de- 
stroyed and all punishment escaped. 

SECOND PROOF — TAKEN FROM MAN 's TENDENCY TOWARD 
PERFECT HAPPINESS 

209. We reason as follows : 

I. Man naturally aspires toward perfect happiness — a tend- 
ency imparted to him by the Creator. 

II. Therefore he is destined to enjoy it. 

III. Now, perfect happiness supposes and requires immor- 
tality. 

Therefore the soul of man is immortal. 

To prove the legitimacy of our conclusion, we must establish 
the truth of each of the three foregoing propositions. 

I. Man naturally aspires to perfect happiness. 9 

(a) Reality of this aspiration. Man wishes to be happy, and 
perfectly happy. Doubtless he often deceives himself ; he strives 
to seize phantoms that vanish before his eyes; he eagerly ap- 
proaches to his lips enticing but poisoned fruits; he passion- 
ately craves after gratifications that will be the cause of his 
misery ; in a fit of despair he may even put an end to his life ; yet, 
in all the vicissitudes of his restless career, what always impels 
him to act, what is at the bottom of all of his wishes and his vexa- 
tions and spites, is the desire of happiness, and perfect happi- 
ness. So long as this need of his heart is not fully gratified, he is 
a disappointed man, and endeavors to seek with still greater 
greed what may completely satisfy him. 

(o) This aspiration is natural. The capital point here is to 
understand well that this tendency toward perfect happiness 
is not an accidental, casual, irrelevant phenomenon, but an in- 
tegral part of the inner nature of man. Let us observe its char- 
acteristic properties. 

210. What an astounding difference between that tendency 
and the thousand particular desires springing up from the hu- 
man heart ! ( 1 ) These vary, succeed, and at times replace each 
other, whilst man's aspiration toward perfect happiness remains 
unchangeable and indestructible. (2) Particular desires differ 
with different individuals; whilst the tendency toward perfect 
happiness is invariably the same in all men. (3) Particular 
desires refer to the means leading to happiness ; but the natural 
aspiration, we speak of, aims at perfect happiness itself as its 
end. (4) Lastly, the particular desires themselves rest on per- 
fect happiness, as their ultimate foundation and cause. 

» See Chapters IV and V of Part I. 



Of the Human Soul 125 

And if we were to inquire from ourselves what are the motives 
of our desires, of our actions, of our aspirations, the true answer 
and last reason would be : "I seek what is good for me ; I wish 
to be happy." 

It is evident, then, that a tendency combining in itself such 
characteristic marks ; a tendency that is the beginning and cause 
of all others, is, strictly speaking, a natural tendency. Hence 
follows the inevitable conclusion. ■ 

II. Man is destined to enjoy perfect happiness. 

211. This irresistible tendency of human nature cannot cer- 
tainly be an illusion; namely, an aspiration to hopes that can 
never be realized. Hence we may without rashness formulate 
the following dilemna : Either the wisdom and goodness of God 
are at fault, or man is really destined to enjoy perfect happi- 
ness. In fact : (a) To create a being which is, by its own na- 
ture, irresistibly impelled toward a definite end, and then to 
make it impossible for it to attain it, would be a sad contradic- 
tion, altogether incompatible with divine wisdom, (b) To 
frustrate man 's most ardent desires, to refuse to satiate the most 
irresistible aspirations of his nature, would be inflicting upon 
him the torture of Tantalus, and all this without sufficient, 
plausible reason, and without fault on the part of man. Would 
this be reconcilable with God's infinite goodness? Therefore 
man is created for perfect happiness, and is furnished with the 
means necessary to enable him to reach and enjoy it. But, we 
may be asked, where is this perfect happiness to be found, in 
this world, or in the next ? Certainly not here below, for reason, 
revelation and the experience of six thousand years, the most 
probable period of man's existence upon earth, unite their 
voices in proclaiming that perfect happiness cannot be found 
in the present life. Our logical reasoning, then, justifies us in 
making a further stop and concluding that man 's soul is immor- 
tal and that perfect and ever-enduring happiness is reserved to 
the just in the life to come. (See Part I, Ch. IV.) 

III. There can be no perfect happiness without immortality, 
that is, endless duration. 

212. Not only do we desire to be happy in one way or another, 
but we wish to be perfectly happy. Our intellect craves after 
infinite truth ; our will yearns after infinite good. Hence to con- 
stitute perfect happiness, a state of life embracing the enjoy- 
ment of all goods, three things or conditions are absolutely re- 
quired : 

1. The exclusion of all evils. 

2. The possession of every good conformable to our nature. 

3. Complete security of never losing such happiness, which 
last condition is the most essential of all ; for if there should be 
no certainty of the everlasting duration of that happiness, the 
mere thought of the future loss of heavenly bliss would be suffi- 



126 Proofs of the Immortality 

cient not only to exclude all happiness, but also to cause the 
most intense grief, a grief proportionate to the immense loss 
to be incurred. Now, if we deny the immortality of the soul, the 
three conditions required for perfect happiness would at once 
disappear. For, first, instead of excluding every evil, one of 
the greatest evils would be substituted : namely, the cessation of 
existence. Secondly, to the possession of all goods would suc- 
ceed the anticipation of their total loss in some future time. 
Thirdly, the complete security of never losing the enjoyment of 
happiness would be replaced by the certainty of plunging sooner 
or later into the abyss of nothing. The preceding argumenta- 
tion may be thus briefly summarized : 

The soul of man is immortal, if it can be proved: First, that 
it can exist, live, and act after its separation from the body. 
Secondly, that it cannot be annihilated by any creature. 
Thirdly, that it will not be annihilated by God, its Creator. As 
the three preceding propositions have been proved, we may 
logically conclude that the soul of man is immortal. 

The immortality of the human soul is in perfect harmony with 
divine justice and wisdom. For whilst, on the one hand, the 
sure prospect of an interminable, happy life presents to the just 
a cheering prospect, acting as a motive amply sufficient to en- 
able them, with the help of divine grace, to curb the most violent 
passions, and persevere to the end in the practice of Christian 
virtue ; on the other hand, the divine threat of an endless retri- 
bution beyond the grave offers to the wicked a most potent re- 
straint, capable of deterring them from sin. 

213. In conclusion, if we except materialists and infidels, who 
deny the immortality of the soul, not from any personal convic- 
tion of the truth of their tenets, but simply because they en- 
deavor by their denial to remove all moral check and restraint 
from sin, we know it to be a historical fact that men of all ages 
and countries, whether civilized or barbarian, unite their voices 
in proclaiming to mankind this lofty truth, the endless existence 
of man's soul beyond the tomb. Here it is highly important to 
remark that the natural aspirations of human reason are fully 
confirmed by the teachings of Christian faith. Let the reader 
recall what has been said in the two preceding parts and he will 
at once realize the grand, sublime, most consoling truth that God 
Almighty, through an effusion of His infinite goodness, has actu- 
ally destined man to a perfect, infinite, eternal happiness in the 
world to come. 

THIRD PROOF — TAKEN FROM THE EXISTENCE OF MORAL LAW 

Preliminary Remark 

214. Ethical or moral science proves : 

( 1 ) That there exists a rule of our free acts, a moral law, of 
which God alone is the Author. 



Of the Human Soul 127 

(2) The existence of this law supposes the fact of the liberty 
and spirituality of the human soul, without which all moral law 
would be meaningless. 

When these premises are once admitted, we can infer that this 
same moral law imperatively demands the immortality of the 
human soul. 

This is our argument: The moral law, to be worthy of the 
name, must impose an obligation, or a duty, binding man's con- 
science, and be provided with a sanction capable of enforcing 
its execution. Now, if we do away with this truth, the immor- 
tality of the soul, neither obligation nor sanction will be any 
longer possible. Therefore the existence of the moral law inevi- 
tably implies the immortality of the human soul. 

(a) Our first assertion in the foregoing argument is self- 
evident. For what kind of a law is that which every one may 
violate with impunity ? What will the moral law amount to if it 
has no binding force ? Now, an obligation that is not furnished 
with a sanction is illusory ; hence the necessity of a sanction that 
should be efficacious ; i. e., capable of enforcing the execution of 
the law, though man, abusing the gift of his liberty, may, in 
spite of it, transgress God 's commands. By so doing he assumes 
the awful responsibility of his rebellion against divine law, and 
consequently will not be able to blame any one but himself for 
the forfeiture of heavenly happiness and the justly merited in- 
fliction of everlasting punishment. 

(b) Without immortality no moral obligation is possible. 
We have explained above what is meant by moral obligation, 

and what is its necessity. That a human act may present itself 
to our mind as something morally necessary and binding our 
conscience, it must offer to us a good of such excellence, that we 
cannot afford to renounce it, if we intend to secure the attain- 
ment of our highest happiness in the life to come. Now there is 
only one good that is capable of realizing those conditions, and 
that is perfect good ; good without any mixture of evil. In fact, 
all the goods containing some imperfections, and such are all the 
goods that may be found in the present life, leave man's will 
perfectly free either to accept them or reject them; in other 
words, they are indifferent. Therefore, perfect good, the only 
one that can constitute the basis of moral obligation, is to be 
found only in the future life. This good, this happiness of the 
next world, consisting in the possession of God, would be a 
veritable punishment, if it should finally end. The conclusion, 
then, that logically follows from the preceding premises is that 
the obligation of the moral law supposes the immortality of the 
soul of man. 

(c) Without immortality there cannot be an efficacious sanc- 
tion. 

215. Where is such a sanction to be found here below? Is vir- 



128 Proofs of the Immortality 

tue fully rewarded? Do we not see that vice often triumphs 
with impunity? This sad spectacle, which is frequently a cause 
of scandal to unreflecting minds, when properly considered, is 
found, on the contrary, to be a clear indication of the justice that 
shall be rendered to every one according to his works. 

It is in effect impossible to suppose that a God infinitely just 
and good should not deal with His rational, responsible creatures 
according to their deeds, whether good or evil. To admit the 
inference of the materialists, allowing the wicked to sin with im- 
punity, without fear of punishment to come, would be in God 
an action opposed to His infinite justice, which requires that He 
should either reward or punish men according to their deserts. 
Therefore the human soul must survive the body after death. 
Hence it is right for us to conclude that the existence of the moral 
law, and of its sanction requires that man's soul should outlive 
the body, and, as proved by other arguments, possess an endless 
existence. 

216. As a fitting conclusion to our demonstration, we subjoin 
the following considerations condensed from Msgr. Vaughan's 
able article, entitled "Man or Ape": 10 

"No one denies the animal nature of man's body. No! 
It is not that which we have in view when we extol his grandeur 
and nobility. It is rather the great and immortal principle that 
animates that body — that stirs in every limb, that throbs in the 
overburdened heart; that immortal essence, which looks out of 
its prison home and, gazing beyond this puny earth, measures 
the distance and magnitude of the stars, traces their paths 
through sidereal space, and compels the powers of nature to serve 
its purpose and to do its bidding. Yes, it is this active, energetic, 
secret principle of life, of thought, of love, that we have in our 
mind, when we think of man's greatness, not the corruptible 
vesture of vile clay, with which it is temporarily encumbered, and 
which may be thrown away to-morrow, and made to feast the 
worms in the lonely grave. The glory and dignity of man 
lies not in his body, however comely and beautiful ; preeminence 
is due to the marvelous intellectual principle to which we give 
the name 'soul.' It is the gifts inherent in the soul, above all 
the gift of immortality, that raises man up and sets him on a 
pinnacle above the rest of the visible creation. Yes, man's soul 
is immortal. Once produced by the omnipotence of God, it 
must endure forever. Hence as to the past, we are creatures of 
yesterday. As to the future, we are everlasting. As delicious 
music to the ear, so is this thought of our endless duration to the 
heart of the way-worn pilgrim of earth. We are children of 
eternity, not of time. Such a truth is not only most consoling, 
but it is one which must, when realized, exercise a most benefi- 
cial influence on the tenor of our lives. It is in the future, end- 

10 See Faith and Folly, p. 412. 



Of the Human Soul 129 

less existence that, as Christian faith assures us, our mental 
capacities will receive their full development, and all our aspira- 
tions will be completely gratified. The infinitely wise and benefi- 
cent Creator, who has filled our heart with most ardent yearnings 
after an eternal life of light, happiness, and love, has made 
ample provision for their realization. Shall we dare affirm that 
God, who plants the irresistible desire of ever-enduring bliss in 
our souls, plants it here in mockery and derision ? A thousand 
times no. It is as certain as we live that, if He has so consti- 
tuted our nature, that it clamors for the eternal joys of heaven, 
it is simply because He intends to stay the cry He has raised 
and to grant us one day the desire of our heart. ' ' Only one con- 
dition does the Lord require on our part and that is the fulfil- 
ment of His holy will, the observance of the divine commands : a 
condition supremely reasonable and just, as shown in Part I. 



CHAPTER III 

ILLUMINATING POINTS OF DOCTRINE, OR REMARKS 
AVAILABLE FOR THE SOLUTION OF DIFFICUL- 
TIES AGAINST THE SOUL'S IMMORTALITY 

To solve difficulties against the soul's immortality, the follow- 
ing remarks should be borne in mind. 

REMARK I 

217. It is only natural and, therefore, general, common aspi- 
rations to perfect, lasting happiness that can claim a divine 
origin and are to be conditionally satisfied. 

It is granted that there may be in man desires, which, for some 
reason or other, cannot always be satisfied, such as the desire of 
some temporal good. But these desires do not concern things 
due to man or needed for his perfection ; hence their realization, 
when it can be obtained, may be renounced, as is done by virtu- 
ous men for the sake of mortification and self-denial. More- 
over, in the chapter referring to man's craving for happiness, 
we speak of desires and tendencies to happiness in general, and 
not to some particular good, which individuals may wish to secure. 
We refer therefore to aspirations that possess these two chief 
characteristics. First, it is question here of a universal tendency 
found in every human soul. Secondly, it is an irresistible tend- 
ency, the mainspring and motive of all human actions. Man, 
aiming at Christian perfection, may spontaneously renounce the 
possession and enjoyment of some particular goods legitimate in 
themselves, to which human nature is inclined. But it would 
be a self-deception for any man to assert : "I would be satisfied 
with a moderate amount of happiness. I feel no desire for per- 



130 Proofs of the Immortality 

feet felicity." Hence it is only aspirations to and desires of 
perfect, ever-enduring happiness that can claim a divine origin, 
and which God is pledged to satisfy, on the condition to be 
stated in the next remark. 

REMARK II 

218. In accordance with the designs of God's wisdom and jus- 
tice the attainment of heavenly happiness is not absolute but 
conditional on man's free submission to the Creator's holy will. 

When we assert that man naturally aspires to happiness, we 
do not mean to say that every man will finally and necessarily 
be happy. But we do mean that he can ultimately be happy, if 
he is willing to do what is required on his part during the period 
of time allotted by God for his probation, according to St. Paul 's 
words: "He that striveth for the mastery, is not crowned, ex- 
cept he strive lawfully." 1 On this account the attainment of 
heavenly happiness is not absolute, but conditional ; if it is not 
attained, it is certainly always attainable. If men fail to do 
their duty— that is, to carry out God's will — and die impenitent, 
they, of their own accord, sign their own condemnation and place 
themselves in a state, which can no longer be changed. 

REMARK III 

219. The human soul can subsist, live, and act independently 
of the body. 

The soul begins to exist in the body, not because it cannot exist 
without it, but because the body is to be its home, the instrument 
of its sensitive operations and because, as St. Thomas says, it gets 
its individuality from the body, of which it is the substantial 
form; but being naturally incorruptible, it possesses an inde- 
pendent subsistence and consequently can live and act whether 
united to the body or separated from it. 

REMARK IV 

220. Man's immortality, like that of angels, is a participated, 
not an essential, power of endless life. 

That the human soul should be capable of an endless existence 
is indeed a marvelous thing, and we might say, an infinite gift. 
But this is evidently the effect of God's immense bounty and 
omnipotence, without whose preserving providence and concur- 
rence no creature can continue to exist and act for any instant of 
time. A receptive or participated power of endless life is one 
thing, but an essential, independent and eternal existence is quite 
another. The former belongs to spiritual creatures, such as 
angels and human souls; the latter is proper of God alone. 
(See n. 189.) 

As theologians pertinently observe, when some of the Fathers 

i2 Tim. ii. 5. 



Of the Human Soul 131 

state in their writings that the human soul 's persevering existence 
depends on the will of God, they simply mean to assert the fact 
that they continue to live because He preserves their life, as He 
does that of all other creatures. But they did not mean to deny 
the truth known both by reason and divine revelation, that man's 
soul is naturally immortal. 

REMARK V 

221. What kind of reunion with its former body does the de- 
parted soul naturally desire? 

Some writers speak of the tendency of the body to reunite with 
the soul, and of the soul's tendency to reunite with the body. 
Thence some wrongly conclude, as the body perishes when sepa- 
rated from the soul, so the soul, in its turn, ceases to exist when 
death separates it from its natural companion, the body. That 
the body may have a natural fitness, called by theologians poten- 
tia passiva, for reunion with the soul, we grant, but that in a 
purely material, dead organism, there may be tendencies, aspira- 
tions, yearnings of any kind, we deny, for such inclinations are 
exclusively proper to simple and spiritual living substances. We 
may also deny in the separated soul a tendency, desire, anxiety 
for reunion with a corruptible body, which had proved, in the 
state of union, a kind of hindrance to the operations of the intel- 
lect and the will, and from which it must eventually be again 
separated. But we fully admit a natural aptitude and ardent de- 
sire of the soul to be reunited with the body, no longer cor- 
ruptible and perishable, but glorified and immortal, according 
to what we learn from divine revelation. Hence, St. Paul 
writes: "Waiting for the adoption of the sons of God, the re- 
demption of our body. " 2 " We also, who are in this tabernacle, 
do groan, being burthened; . . . that that which is mortal may 
be swallowed up by life. ' ' 3 

The reader is here referred to a subsequent chapter in Part IV 
where this matter is discussed at greater length. 4 

REMARK VI 

222. Full justice is dealt both to the just and to the wicked, 
but only in the world to come. 

Almighty God, as a most wise Legislator, and just Judge, will 
not fail to reward the observers and to punish the transgressors 
of His laws, a retribution that cannot be fully allotted in the 
present life. Nay, we often witness here below that the contrary 
generally occurs, for the just are at times compelled to endure 
great sufferings, while the wicked enjoy with impunity the pleas- 
ing things they secure by their criminal acts and the persecu- 
tion of the good. Human life is a colossal enigma without im- 

2 Rom. viii. 23. ± See Lessius, Opuscula, vol. iii, pp. 34 et sqq. 

3 2 Cor. v. 4. 



132 Proofs of the Immortality 

mortality. The admission of a future life alone can explain 
man's present troubles and solve his mysteries. Bad men may 
rise to the highest pinnacle of prosperity whilst the good are 
forced to the wall. Tyrants dwell and feast in marble palaces, 
whilst heroes, the victims of their cruelty, starve in dungeons. 
Often vice wears purple and fine linen and banquets every day : 
and virtue eats crusts and dons rags. Tiberius flung his vic- 
tims over the precipice into the sea ; Nero lighted up his gardens 
with blazing martyrs. The conclusion, then, is inevitable; the 
accounts must be evenly balanced, and full justice dealt both to 
the just and the wicked ; and as this is not done in the present 
life, it must be done in the next. Hence the inspired writer 
speaks thus: "I saw under the sun in the place of judgment 
wickedness, and in the place of justice iniquity. And I said in 
my heart: God shall judge both the just and the wicked/' 5 
An infidel of last century having met an old hermit, emaciated by 
long penance, sneeringly said to him : ' * Foolish old man, what 
will become of all your penances, if there is no heaven?" The 
holy hermit promptly answered the flippant infidel, whom he 
knew quite well : ' ' And what will become of your atheism and 
debaucheries, if there is a hell ? ' ' There is a pointed rebuke ad- 
ministered by faith to unbelief. 

REMARK VII 

223. Postulate a just judge ruling mankind, and the soul's 
immortality follows as a logical consequence. 

To a Presbyterian minister, who had delivered a course of 
lectures on the Immortality of the Soul, one of his clever parish- 
ioners said: "Postulate a just judge ruling mankind, and the 
soul 's immortality follows ; remember this and you will be much 
shorter next time in treating this subject." Rousseau reasons 
thus in his Emile : "I believe in God as fully as I believe in any 
other truth. If God exists He is perfect. If He is perfect, He 
is wise and just ; if just, my soul is immortal. ' ' 6 The moral 
argument here referred to and discussed elsewhere in this work 
at greater length proves this much, that the attribute of divine 
justice requires that the soul should survive the body and receive 
in the next life a just retribution for its deeds, good or evil. 
That this retribution should be endless has been demonstrated 
in other parts of this work. 

REMARK VIII 

224. Future punitive endless retribution is the only motive 
strong enough to deter men from iniquitous deeds, without tam- 
pering with their liberty. 

sEccles. iii. 16, 17. 

s Quoted by Professor Caird in his Literature and Philosophy, vol. i, 
p. 132. 



Of the Human Soul 133 

We may urge and strengthen the preceding argument by the 
following reflections. God, the Supreme Provisor and Author of 
the moral order governing the human race, must, no doubt, have 
disposed that man should always have at hand a motive suffi- 
cient to keep him in the path of duty, notwithstanding the entic- 
ing allurements inducing him to the violation of the divine com- 
mands. This He has done by the remunerative and punitive 
sanction assigned to His laws. Now, take away the conviction 
deeply rooted in the human conscience of a future, endless recom- 
pense promised to virtue and of an eternal punishment threat- 
ened to sinners, and no other motive remains strong enough to 
deter the wicked from criminal deeds and sinful gratifications. 
Can we believe that the generality of men will be prepared to 
conquer themselves and persevere in a career of honesty and in- 
tegrity if they are once persuaded that there is nothing in store 
for them at the end of this earthly existence, because their soul 
is destined to perish along with their body ? We shall expect in 
vain that any man, beset as he is by inordinate passions, will re- 
solve to lead an honest life, unless he be a firm believer in the 
existence of God as a supreme Judge, and in the immortality of 
the soul accountable to Him for its doings upon earth. No 
sooner do men strive to convince themselves that death ends all 
than they abandon themselves to sensual debaucheries and fear 
neither God nor man. St. Augustine frankly says in His fa- 
mous Confessions: "Had I not believed in the existence of a 
forthcoming retribution, Epicurus, who rejects it, would have 
got the better of me." The Royal Prophet, after saying of the 
atheist, ' ' The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God, ' ' tells 
in the next verse what is the consequence of unbelief. "They 
are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways. ' ' 7 

And, speaking of the sinner who entirely neglects to think of 
God's presence, the same Royal Psalmist says: "God is not be- 
fore his eyes ; his ways are filthy at all times. ' ' 8 

REMARK IX 

225. The denial of eternal punishment cannot be reconciled 
with the attribute of divine justice. 

If there were no future life, the present world would be 
bristling with contradictions, absurdities, and injustices, highly 
derogatory to the wisdom, justice, and goodness of God's provi- 
dence, by which we are governed. As the distinguished author 
James Balmes writes: "The abolition of future punishment 
cannot be reconciled with divine justice. Do we not behold in 
this world iniquity haughty and triumphant? Do we not find 
infamous seducers, veritable brutes in human form, who, after 
corrupting the innocence of many youths, cruelly desert the vic- 
tims of their lust, and abandon them to all the horrors of 

7P 8 . xiii, 1. 8 Ps. ix. 5 (according to the Hebrew canon). 



134 Proofs of the Immortality 

ignominy and desperation? Shall perfidy, treason, fraud, 
adultery, and other criminal enormities, after eluding the vigi- 
lance of human justice, also escape the judgment of an avenging, 
omnipotent God?" It is well here to recall the words of the 
heroic Eleazar recorded in the Second Book of the Machabees: 
' ' Yet I should not escape the hand of the Almighty, neither alive 
nor dead. ' ' 9 

"It is impossible to escape Thy hand. " 10 ' * There is none 
that can deliver out of Thy hand." 1X 

REMARK X 

226. The main question at issue is: Has Almighty God, in- 
finitely just, really threatened impenitent sinners with eternal 
reprobation ? If He has, as it has been proved above, what does 
it matter if some difficulty is experienced in comprehending it? 

Catholic doctrines form a whole perfectly consistent and har- 
monious system, in which there is such reciprocal dependence in 
all the truths, that one cannot be rejected without rejecting all. 
"We may here apply what the Apostle St. James says of the 
transgression of one of God's commandments: "Whosoever 
shall keep the whole law, but offend in one point, is become guilty 
of all." 12 For all the precepts of the law are to be considered 
as one total and entire law, and, as it were, a chain of precepts, 
where, by breaking one link, the whole chain is severed, and the 
transgressor despises the lawgiver. Hence if some capital doc- 
trinal points are admitted, such as the perfection, wisdom and 
justice of the Deity, it is impossible to reject the rest. 

227. Now how do the impugners of Christian dogmas act? 
They select one or other of those tenets for attack, completely 
isolating it from the others, and then jump to the conclusion that 
a religion which teaches such and such a doctrine cannot be true. 
We would ask them how they manage to reconcile this conclu- 
sion with the fact that the same religion, which teaches the ex- 
istence and eternity of hell, bears on its face all the characters of 
divine truth, and is proved by irrefutable arguments to have 
God for its Author, and the world's Redeemer for its Founder? 
Or the question might be thus presented to our opponents: 
The voice of reason teaches that among the attributes proper to 
the Deity we must reckon infinite wisdom, goodness, and justice ; 
and divine revelation, which the same human reason proves to be 
an authentic and reliable record of God's dealings with His ra- 
tional creatures, tells us in the clearest language, that God, infi- 
nitely wise, good, and just, has established a double sanction to 
enforce the execution of His law ; namely, the promise of eternal 
happiness to its observers, and the threat of eternal punishment to 
its transgressors. When these principles are fully demonstrated, 
what matters it whether the dogma of future, interminable retri- 

9 2 Mach vi. 26. io Wis. xvi. 15. n Job x. 7. 12 James ii. 10. 



Of the Human Soul 135 

bution presents some difficulty to our feeble minds ? Therefore, 
the main question at issue is, has Almighty God, infinitely just, 
really and truly revealed this terrific truth? If He has, what 
does it matter if our reason be more or less humbled by its in- 
ability fully to comprehend it ? * This is the logical order of ideas 
and the reasonable, common-sense way of looking at dogmas 
which have been revealed, though we may not fully grasp the mo- 
tives or reasons of the truths they convey. As Pascal remarks 
in his Pensees, [page 58], "The soul's immortality, and its con- 
sequent retribution in the next world is a truth so supremely im- 
portant that one must have lost the use of reason if he remain 
indifferent about what most deeply concerns him." All our 
thoughts and actions, as shown in the introduction, are naturally 
shaped according to our admission or denial of it. It is the ex- 
treme importance of this momentous truth that arouses the anger 
and opposition of unbelievers, for reasons utterly discreditable 
to their moral character. In fact, the solemn obligation which it 
imposes of conforming our actions to that belief excites against 
it the fierce hostility of those who recognize no other rule of life 
but their own disordered will, bent on the gratification of their 
passions. To get rid of a doctrine which interferes with the 
indulgence of their criminal pleasures they shelter themselves 
under the deceptive security of their unbelief, foolishly thinking 
that in order not to be annoyed by the thought of future punish- 
ment it is enough to imagine that it does not exist. 

228. We may say, in conclusion, either the divine command of 
shunning evil and doing good is destitute of all sanction, or its 
sanction is limited to the present life, or, as Christendom be- 
lieves, it is reserved to a future, endless life. Of these three 
suppositions the first is manifestly repugnant to the divine attri- 
butes of wisdom and justice. The second is flatly contradicted 
by experience. There remains, therefore, only the third, which 
is in full harmony with God's infinite wisdom and justice, com- 
mends itself to human reason, and is confirmed by the general 
consent of men, as shall be shown later on. 

REMARK XI 

229. As no efficient sanction of God's laws is found in this 
world, He must have provided one in the next. 

It is contrary to wisdom to wish for an end without provid- 
ing the means. God wills that men, His creatures, should 
do what is right and shun what is wrong. "Decline from evil 
and do good. ' ' 13 Such is the divine command. Wisdom must 
then provide what is needed to secure its observance by furnish- 
ing to man a powerful and ever-present motive for shunning 
evil and doing good. Such motives are reduced to two; hope 
and fear ; that is, hope for happiness, the reward of virtue, fear 

*s p s . xxxvi. 27. 



136 Proofs of the Immortality 

of misery, the penalty of sin. Now, since such a sanction is 
looked for in vain in the present life, it must therefore be found 
in the next. (See nn. 164, 168.) 

REMARK XII 

230. If all the happiness within man's reach is confined to the 
present life, divine wisdom, goodness, and providence are evi- 
dently at fault. 

In fact, what other motive is left sufficiently strong to induce 
him to submit to the sacrifices, which the practice of virtue de- 
mands? If all the goods to be hoped for are those of the pres- 
ent life, man 's principal concern will be to secure them by every 
means in his power; and, as vice frequently offers more attrac- 
tions than virtue, on many occasions he will find far greater ad- 
vantages in doing evil than in practising good, as far at least as 
his carnal tendencies are concerned. If such was the order estab- 
lished by God's providence, His infinite wisdom would contra- 
dict itself, for it would impose on man the observance of the di- 
vine commands, and, at the same time, it would furnish no suffi- 
cient help to prevent its transgression. Such a reflection is per- 
fectly conformable to the saying of St. Paul: "If in this life 
only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." 14 
For, after having, for Christ's sake, renounced the delights of 
earth, we shall miss, according to our opponents, likewise those of 
heaven. 

REMARK XIII 

231. Exclude future life, and you will be logically forced to 
admit that the martyrs and their persecutors will, after death, 
meet with the same fate ; a conclusion supremely derogatory to 
the infinite justice of God. 

Take the case of martyrdom. Those that underwent it are 
counted by the millions. Is it in keeping with the goodness of 
the Creator that this most perfect act of loyalty of His creatures 
should go unrewarded ? 15 If so heroic an act fails to secure fu- 
ture happiness and bliss, man can hope for no forthcoming re- 
ward, however great may be his sacrifices. To this absurd con- 
clusion we are inevitably led by the unbelievers ' denial of retri- 
bution in the world to come. Is it just for a superior who has 
issued orders to his subjects to grant equal treatment to those 
who break them as to those who observe them? Now this is 
exactly the flagrant injustice imputed to God by those who hold 
that He has limited man's existence to the present life. In the 
supposition of our opponents, human existence would, in many 
cases, be a fatal gift; sufferings would remain without com- 
pensation, victorious combats against unruly passions would cease 
to be crowned, labors would have no recompense worth toiling 
for, and sorrows would be bereft of all hope and consolation. 

i* 1 Cor. xv. 19. is John xv. 13. 



Of the Human Soul 137 

These are only a few of the evil consequences that logically fol- 
low from the system of denial of future life. 

REMARK XIV 

232. Striking testimony of the Greek philosopher Plato to the 
truth of future retribution, and of the different lots assigned by 
the Supreme Judge to the departed souls according to their de- 
serts. 

The ancient tradition concerning the existence of a life to come 
and the different lots assigned to the departed souls is thus at- 
tested by the renowned Greek sage Plato, in his work, Be Legions, 
p. 456; and in his Phaedo, (p. 89. n. 62. Paris edition of Fir- 
min-Didot. ) "He that reigns over us, seeing that human actions 
performed by the living souls are either good or evil, has pre- 
pared different abodes according to their deeds, thus leaving to 
our own will the free choice of our future dwelling-place. 
Hence the souls, departing from this world, carry with them- 
selves what is to determine the destination due to them. Those 
that have committed light faults do not descend as low as the 
more guilty ones into the place of punishment. Those that have 
committed some grievous crimes are precipitated into the abyss, 
which is called Tartarus, from which they shall never come out : 
the place feared by all and which terrifies men even in their 
sleep. But the soul that, by continuous efforts of the will, pro- 
gresses in virtue and refrains from vice, is transported to a man- 
sion blissful in proportion to its approach to God's perfection. 
Young man, such is the judgment of the gods, that dwell in the 
heavens; the gods, who, you imagine, are not concerned about 
yourself. The good will be associated with the souls of the good, 
and the bad with those of the wicked. Each soul will join those 
that resemble it, either to rejoice or to suffer with them, accord- 
ing to their deserts. Let neither yourself nor any other think of 
escaping such judgment of the gods, whether you will hide your- 
self into the depths of the earth, or soar up into the heights of 
the heavens, the punishment you have deserved will overtake 
you either here below, or in the lower regions, in the dreadful 
dungeon of hell. ' ' 



CHAPTER IV 
ANSWERS TO SEVERAL OBJECTIONS 

OBJECTION I 

233. If the soul were immortal, men would not fear death, but 
they would rather desire it, as a passage to an interminable 
happy life. But all men fear death and do their utmost to 



138 Proofs of the Immortality 

avoid it. Therefore is it not true that the instinct of nature tells 
us that our soul is not immortal? 

Answer: This very fear of death furnishes an additional 
proof of the immortality of the soul; for, as experience teaches, 
the dread of death is felt most keenly by those, who, having led a 
wicked, impious life, are frightened at the thought of God's 
avenging justice awaiting them in a future world. See in ency- 
clopedias the account of the frightful death of the American 
rationalist, Tom Paine; and of the French antichristian blas- 
phemer, Voltaire. The latter 's death in horrible despair is testi- 
fied to by an eye-witness, his Protestant physician. 1 And if even 
the just are not entirely exempt from some fear at the moment 
of their departure from this life, this fear does not spring from 
any apprehension, lest the soul, when separated from the body, 
should cease to exist, but chiefly from the two following causes : 

(a) From the natural repugnance which the soul experiences 
in being violently separated from the body, with which it is 
naturally destined to remain united so as to form the integral 
compound constituting man. And this fact simply proves how 
conformable to this natural tendency of the soul is the revealed 
dogma of the final resurrection, when the union of soul and body, 
temporarily interrupted by death, will again be realized at the 
end of time, and shall endure forever. Then the Redeemer's 
words, registered in St. John's Gospel, will be completely ful- 
filled: "The hour cometh, wherein all that are in the graves 
shall hear the voice of the Son of God. — And they that have done 
good things shall come forth into the resurrection of life, but they 
that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment. ' ' 2 

(b) The fear of death arises also from the anxiety of the fu- 
ture lot that awaits us in eternity ; for, no man, however pure his 
conscience, can, without a special revelation from God, know for 
certain where his future eternal abode will be; though he may 
form very probable conjectures concerning it, which conjectures 
are amply sufficient to check any excessive fear and to enable 
him to meet death with courage and resignation. 

In this connection a quotation from Dr. Oliver Wendell 
Holmes seems quite appropriate : 

"So far as I have observed persons nearing the end of life, 
the Roman Catholics understand the business of dying better 
than Protestants. They have an expert with them, armed with 
spiritual specifics, in which they both, patient and priestly minis- 
trant, place implicit trust. Confession, the Eucharist, Extreme 
Unction — these all inspire a confidence which, without this sym- 
bolism, is too apt to be wanting in over-sensitive natures. To ex- 
orcise ghastly images that sometimes disturb the afflicted intelli- 
gence, the old Church of Christendom has her mystic formulas, 
of which no rationalistic prescription can take the place. If 

i See Herder's Kirehenlexicon, vol. xii, p. 1086. 2 John v. 28, 29. 



Of the Human Soul 139 

Cowper had been a good Catholic, instead of having his consci- 
ence handled by a Protestant like John Newton, he would not 
have died despairing, looking upon himself as a castaway. 

"I have seen a good many Roman Catholics on their dying 
beds, and it always appeared to me that they accept the inevitable 
with a composure which showed that their belief, whether or not 
the best to live by, was a better one to die by than most of the 
harder creeds which replaced it. ' ' 

OBJECTION II 

234. The end of the human soul is to animate the body ; but at 
death this end ceases; for the body is no longer fit for life. 
Therefore, the soul also must cease to exist, since its existence 
would then be useless. 

Answer: We reply that the existence of the human soul has, 
at least, two ends; one is proximate and inadequate and par- 
takes of the nature of a means ; the other is final and adequate. 
We grant that the first of these ends, which is the temporary 
animation of the body in this life, ceases with death ; though, as 
we learn from divine revelation, this separation is to last only 
till the day of final resurrection; but we deny that the other, 
namely, the final and chief end of the human soul, ceases at the 
moment of death. For its final and chief end, as manifested by 
its faculties, desires, tendencies, and operations, and particularly 
by God's designs, is the glorification of the Creator — an end 
which He will infallibly obtain whatever may be man's conduct 
in the present life, a truth fully established in the two preced- 
ing parts of our book. (See n. 71.) 

As to the soul of brutes, we may with truth say that its chief 
and ultimate end is the animation of the body in this life ; for, 
as they are destitute of intelligence and liberty — and, therefore, 
incapable of merit or demerit — they cannot have been created 
for any other end than that which is attainable in this life, where 
they serve the purpose of glorifying God by their existence, their 
faculties, and their usefulness to man, for whose benefit they were 
made. 

OBJECTION III 

235. The immortality of the human soul may be known by 
revelation, but it cannot be proved by reason; in fact, the im- 
mortality of the soul depends on the will of the Creator: but 
we cannot by reason alone know what that will is, as we cannot 
tell the secret desires or will of any human being, as long as they 
are not outwardly manifested to us. 

Answer: The gentile philosophers, such as Plato, Seneca, So- 
crates, Plutarch, Cicero, as they themselves testify, were cer- 
tainly acquainted with the truths of primitive revelation pos- 
sessed by the nations of antiquity, one of which truths was the 
soul's survival after death. This is quite true; but, as we learn 



140 Proofs of the Immortality 

from their philosophical works still extant, they established that 
same truth, the soul's immortality, by arguments exclusively de- 
rived from reason, just as is done by modern philosophers though 
enlightened by the brighter revelation of Christ's Gospel. A 
full discussion on primitive traditional revelation will be found in 
Parts VIII and IX. 

The immortality of the soul depends upon the will of God in 
the sense that God was free to create or not to create such a soul 
as ours ; but not in the sense that our soul is now immortal only 
because God wills it to be so, independently of any signs or marks 
or indications of this immortality imprinted in the soul itself by 
the hand of the Creator. 

It is quite true that, as we cannot know the secret will of any 
human being, so with stronger reason, we cannot know by reason 
alone the will of God; but if God manifests His will by giving 
to the being He creates such faculties, aspirations, and tendencies 
as require an immortal existence, it is clear, then, that we can 
know God's will just as we know the will of any human being 
from the exterior signs manifesting it. Now, as our arguments 
have proved, it is precisely from such outward manifestations 
and signs that we demonstrate the immortality of the human 
soul. (Seen. 209.) 

Therefore, the immortality of the soul, announced by revela- 
tion, can also be proved from reason. 

objection rv 

236. If it is true, as stated in Part I, Chapter VIII, that a 
natural desire cannot be useless — that is, frustrated — and must 
therefore be realized in the next life, then you must admit one 
or the other of these consequences : First : that even the wicked 
will be perfectly and eternally happy. Secondly: that, if they 
cannot be happy, their souls at least must be annihilated and 
therefore are not immortal. 

Answer : Neither of these consequences can be admitted; for 
the first, the eternal and perfect happiness of the wicked, is 
against the attribute of divine justice, which cannot reward 
iniquity; the second is against the thesis, which states that not 
even one single soul, whether good or wicked, will be annihilated 
by God. 

The desire for perfect happiness will not be frustrated in 
this sense, that if the condition required by God's justice and 
demanded by man's nature for its attainment is fulfilled, 
that happiness will certainly be attained; but not in this sense, 
that it must be attained at all events, and in all cases, even- if 
that condition is not verified ; for, as right reason teaches us, the 
attainment of happiness, which is to be conformable to God's in- 
finite wisdom and justice, must not be absolute but conditional, 
since it concerns man, an intelligent free being, capable of good 



Of the Human Soul 141 

or evil, of merit or demerit, and the condition required, as reason 
teaches us, is submission to God's will by the observance of 
moral law and moral order, viz., by the conscientious discharge 
of the threefold duty to God. to himself and to his fellow man. 

As all men are endowed with free will, and all receive the 
means and helps required to enable them to observe the moral 
law. to comply with God's will and thus put the condition neces- 
sary for attaining perfect happiness, it is evident that the desire 
for such happiness will not be frustrated, as far as it depends 
on God. 

Briefly, on the part of God. the desire of perfect happiness, 
which He Himself impressed on the human soul, must certainly 
be realized, granted ; on the part of men. we distinguish ; if they 
fulfil the condition required, granted ; if they do not, we deny. 

OBJECTION V 

237. If the soul separated from the body should still subsist, it 
would no longer be the essential form of the body: hence there 
would be no purpose for its further existence, and it would 
either naturally die. or be annihilated by the Creator. 

Answer: It is one thing for any form to be actually informing 
a given body, and quite another thing to be essentially ordained 
always to inform that body. The fact of the soul's separation 
from the body does not destroy its fitness to reunite with it once 
more, and again act as its form. Moreover, the human soul is not 
only the form of the body it unites with, but also a subsisting 
form capable of existing both in the state of union and in that of 
separation. To see how false is the conclusion of the objection 
we are refuting, see n. 234. 

OBJECTION VI 

238. No being can exist without the ability to perform the 
operations proper to it. Understanding is the operation proper 
of the intellectual soul, an operation which cannot be per- 
formed without the help of phantasms, or sensible images, sup- 
plied by bodily organs. 

Answer: To understand by means of phantasms or sensible 
images is proper of the soul only when united to the body. 
When separated by death the soul exercises its intellectual facul- 
ties in the manner suited to its new mode of existence, for, as 
philosophy teaches, the operation of a being is always conform- 
able to its manner of existence. See St. Thomas in his Summa 
Theologica, (p. l a . qu. 89. arts. 1, 2, 5, 6), where the Angelic 
Doctor proves that the separated soul (1) Can exercise its intel- 
lectual faculties; (2) can know other separated spiritual sub- 
stances; (3) it retains the knowledge acquired in the present 
life, and can make use of it. 

When our adversaries urge the necessity of the brain for all 
intellectual operations, we answer : 



142 Proofs of the Immortality 

To put the whole matter in a few words, we distinguish be- 
tween causes and conditions. Matter, brain, bodily organs are 
not the cause of anything ; they are only a condition necessary so 
long as the union between soul and body lasts. There is a great 
difference between the flute and the breath. (See nn. 197, 198.) 

OBJECTION VII 

239. Compound substances resulting from the union of a living 
principle with a material organism, are so conditioned that 
when one of the constitutents perishes the other also ceases to 
exist. Such is the fate of all animals. Therefore in the human 
compound, as soon as the body dies the soul also must cease to 
exist. 

Answer: What the objection asserts happens only when the 
constituents concur in the same way and with mutual depend- 
ence in the formation of a given compound being, as is the case 
with the lower animals, the brute creation. But in the forma- 
tion of man, the human compound, the body does not communi- 
cate its being to the soul, but rather receives it from it. There- 
fore the human soul when separated from the body, withdraws 
and retains its own being and continues to exist and act in an 
independent subsistence. 

objection vm 

240. The human body being corruptible, the soul, its form, 
must also be corruptible, for the form is always such as to be 
proportionate to the material organism it informs and animates. 

Answer: The consequence is denied. As to the reason al- 
leged, we reply that all that is required on the part of the form 
is its aptitude or fitness to inform a given body, but not a pro- 
portion implying identity of substance or mutual dependence in 
both constituents. 

OBJECTION IX 

241. If the union of the soul with the body is natural, it 
follows that the soul, when separated from it, remains in a kind 
of violent restraint, and will eventually cease to be, for, as philos- 
ophers tell us, nothing violent can last — violentum non durat. 

Answer: If the union of the soul with a corruptible body, 
besides being natural, were also intended to be perpetual, it is 
plain that the soul separated from it, would remain in a state 
of violent restraint. But as such a union, in the present order 
of Providence, was not intended to be perpetual, therefore when 
it naturally ceases, the soul suffers no violence, but though sepa- 
rated, continues to exist. But if the natural corruptibility of 
the body were to be miraculously remedied, then the union with 
an incorruptible body would become perpetual by grace. This 
is exactly what divine revelation teaches as to the state of man 
after the final resurrection. Then only would the soul suffer 



Of the Human Soul 143 

violence if forcibly separated from the risen glorified and incor- 
ruptible body, which, as will be shown farther on, will never 
happen. 

But even admitting, for argument's sake, the separation of 
the soul from a glorified, incorruptible body, there would then 
be no violence incompatible with existence, for the soul, as a sub- 
sisting being, can continue to live, both in the state of separation 
and in that of union. 

A still further answer to the present objection is furnished by 
the following considerations : 

In the present order of divine providence no perpetual union 
of the soul with the body is essentially required, for the former 
does not need the latter in order to exist, being naturally immor- 
tal. The separation, being now unavoidable and natural, can- 
not be said to produce any violence or restraint. 

We must, however, admit that, the state of violence being alto- 
gether excluded, the union of the soul with the body, directed to 
the formation of the human compound, man. is more connatural 
than separation, which, at all events, as divine truth teaches us, is 
to be only temporary, that is from death to the final resurrection 
on the Judgment Day. The chief reason is that the specific dif- 
ference of the soul as distinguished from angelic spirits, consists 
in its being a form destined to inform and animate the body. 
Hence it may be said that the soul in its state of separation is in 
some sense an incomplete entity, though retaining all that 
is required to constitute it a being perfect in its own kind. 

More will be said on this subject in Part IV of our work, to 
which the reader is referred. 

objection x 

How can we admit the existence of a being, such as the soul, of 
which we can form no image or representation? 

Answer: We cannot form, for instance, a mental picture of 
gravitation, chemical attraction, electricity, or in fact, of any 
abstract concept, such as right, virtue, beauty, etc. Are we, 
then, justified in concluding fhat those forces and ideas have no 
existence? Images, representations, mental pictures are pos- 
sible only when there is a question of substances whose material 
constitution falls within the scope of sense experience. As the 
soul is neither a square nor a triangle, neither blue nor green, 
neither sweet nor sour, it is evidently impossible for us to form 
any mental picture of it. But this fact does not authorize our 
opponents to deny the soul's existence. 

No surgeon, no professor of anatomy, has ever been able to de- 
tect the presence of the soul in his experimental investigations. 
And this for the best of reasons, for such a being, the materialists 
claim, does not exist. But, we reply, where have they looked for 
it? On the dissecting table? To find the soul we must look 



144 Proofs of the Immortality 

for it where it is, not in the dead, but in the living ; for it is no 
muscle or joint laid bare by the surgeon's knife, but the vital 
principle and efficient cause of those sensitive and spiritual ac- 
tivities, which this life of ours exhibits. Here is where the soul 
must be sought, not in the anatomical operating room or in the 
crematory, or at the morgue. 

242. Among the forty-eight writers who contributed their es- 
says to the volume entitled ' * The Proofs of Life after Death, ' ' a 
kind of symposium edited by Robert J. Thompson, only seven 
openly took the negative side. As I did with regard to other 
supporters of the heterodox view, I shall here state the argu- 
ments of the afore-mentioned seven opponents and weigh their 
value in the balance of logic and common sense. The reader 
will see for himself how weak is the argumentative fabric sus- 
taining views and opinions opposed to the teaching of reason, 
of divine revelation, and the general consent of mankind on the 
soul 's permanent survival after death, and the everlasting retri- 
bution awaiting man in the world to come. 

1. E. Ducleaux: "I, as a scientist, could not answer the pro- 
posed question. For, any reasons that may be brought forth in 
favor of one's opinion on any given topic are only good for 
the persons who bring them forth, and cannot impress the 
listener. ' ' 3 

We answer: Sir, if your principle were true, then it would 
be perfectly useless to write or consult books on any subjects, for, 
according to your view, their contents would be useful only for 
their authors and would be of no benefit whatever to other 
readers. 

2. Prof. S. Brunot. 4 He boldly affirms, "that all arguments 
alleged by philosophers from Plato to this day on the positive 
side, that is, in favor of the soul's immortality, have long since 
been destroyed by criticism, so that absolutely nothing of them 
is left." 

Answer: Of one thing we are sure, and that is the fact that 
all objections urged by materialists and infidels against immor- 
tality and future retribution have been solved, as is shown by the 
numberless works written on those subjects in almost every lan- 
guage spoken by man. But, on the other hand, we have yet to 
hear of any book composed by modern or ancient critics, con- 
taining arguments that have never been refuted, giving difficul- 
ties that have never been solved, and confuting the arguments of 
the old schoolmen. The writer of such a book has not yet been 
born. 

3. Dr. Hericourt. Here is a specimen of the reasoning powers 
of this supposed learned Doctor: "The human soul has no 
more real existence than the flame of a lamp. And when the 
lamp goes out, where goes the flame ? " 5 

s Page 48. * Page 68. 5 Page 85. 



Of the Human Soul 145 

Answer: We shall reply to the Doctor's question when he 
shall have proved what he takes for granted, that ' ' man 's soul is 
nothing else but a flame of physiological conditions and that hu- 
man personality is nothing." 

4. Dr. E. Eulenberg. Here is what he thinks of the question 
at issue, the soul's life after death: "We are not aware of a 
single fact or argument objectively and scientifically proving, or 
even favoring individual immortality. ' ' 6 

Answer: Leaving aside the fact of divine revelation, certify- 
ing to that truth, as he may not believe in its existence, there is 
at hand an endless array of arguments, that are to be found in 
millions of books filling the libraries of the civilized world and 
objectively proving that very truth, the immortality of the hu- 
man soul. 

Moreover, we need not resort to science for our demonstration, 
for mental philosophy, that part of special metaphysics, which 
is called psychology, is fully competent to deal with that ques- 
tion and to settle it satisfactorily, as it has been done from time 
immemorial even to this day. 

5. Dr. Minot J. Savage: "I hold that the scientific method 
is the only method of knowledge, and that nothing can be said 
to be known unless it be capable of demonstration with the sci- 
entific method. ' ' 7 

Answer: The Doctor is here greatly mistaken, for things may 
come to our knowledge from other even more reliable sources or 
methods than those supplied by scientific or experimental 
methods. Truth may be reached by philosophical reasonings, or 
may be derived from the testimony of authority either human or 
divine. (See nn. 403, 404.) 

6. Simon Newcomb: "I have never been able to think out 
any satisfactory theory on the subject of the continuance of the 
conscious soul of man after death. ' ' 8 

Answer: We beg leave to inform this writer that the sur- 
vival of man's soul after death is a stern fact demonstrated by 
reason, announced by God 's own revelation and confirmed by the 
verdict of mankind. Hence it cannot be called a theory, which 
is simply an hypothesis assuming some principle, law, or agent 
to account for certain phenomena, such as Newton's theory of 
gravitation, and the vibratory theory of light and heat. 

7. Robert J. Thompson. This well-meaning compiler and edi- 
tor of the Symposium entitled "Proofs of Life after Death" in 
his concluding pages advances some assertions, which call for 
criticism. He writes: "Psychical research will furnish the 
demonstration of life after death, we are fully convinced, within 
the next twenty years. ' ' 9 

This statement was given out in 1908, that is nearly ten years 
ago : hence in less than ten years the much sought light will at 
« Page 87. » Page 143. s Page 69. 9 p ag e 314. 



146 Proofs of the Immortality 

last appear. Though this seems to be welcome news, yet we are 
glad to inform Mr. Thompson that we need not wait for the 
results of psychical research to settle the mighty question of 
man's immortality. It has been settled thousands of years ago 
by man's reason, by the light of God's revelation and the common 
sense of the human race. 

Moreover, he himself admits that "to many of the keenest, 
brightest, most profound thinkers psychical research has already 
proven that there is conscious existence after death. ' ' 

And as this all-important question has been solved in the 
affirmative by the forty-one writers, who fill the ablest pages of 
his book, we are inclined to believe that, to be convinced of the 
truth of the soul's conscious existence after death, he no longer 
needs the forthcoming light of psychical research. 

243. "Life is real, life is earnest 

And the grave is not its goal. 
Dust thou art, to dust returnest 
Was not spoken of the soul. ' ' 10 

"Why shrinks the soul 
Back on herself and startles at destruction? 
'Tis divinity that stirs within us ; 
'Tis Heaven itself that points out an hereafter, 
And intimates eternity to man. 
The stars shall fade away, the sun itself 
Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years, 
But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth, 
Unhurt amid the war of elements, 
The wrecks of matter, and the crash of worlds. ' ' al 

"What can frighten you? If the suns come down, the moons 
crumble into dust, systems after systems are hurled into annihi- 
lation, what is that to you? Stand as a rock, you are inde- 
structible." 12 



CHAPTER V 

THE DOCTRINE OF DIVINE REVELATION ON THE 
IMMORTALITY OF THE HUMAN SOUL 

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS 

244. Our reasonable, discreet readers will not require from us 
distinct proofs for every doctrine, which, outside of our special 
theme, The Future Life, must be assumed and supposed as true ; 
and they will, no doubt, be satisfied if we simply refer them to 

io Longfellow, A Psalm of Life. 

ii Joseph Addison, Cato, from Acts iv and v. 12 Swami Vivekananda. 



Of the Human Soul 147 

the authorities and works, where such doctrines are fully demon- 
strated. Thus, the testimonies which we are about to cite from 
both the Old and the New Testament, could have no value as 
proofs of our thesis unless we take for granted the authenticity 
and divine inspiration of the Sacred Scriptures, and the existence 
of an infallible authority to interpret them. Were we to under- 
take to prove these and other doctrinal points that come in con- 
tact with our subject, our work, instead of being a simple treatise 
on The Future Life would become a regular encyclopedia de omni 
re scibili et quibusdam aliis, as the saying has it. In accordance 
with this premise, for proofs of the authority and inspiration of 
the Sacred Books, see ' ' Outline of Bible Knowledge, ' ' edited by 
Most Reverend Archbishop Messmer, and the following theo- 
logians : Mazzella, Perrone, Schiffini, Hunter, etc. 

As to the necessity of an infallible authority to determine the 
true meaning of divine revelation, a truth fully demonstrated by 
Catholic writers, for brevity's sake I will here advance only 
two proofs. 

245. The first is taken and condensed from the valuable work 
of Rev. Daniel Lyons, il Christianity and Infallibility, Both or 
Neither": 

Because I believe that God made a supernatural revelation of 
His will for the benefit of man to the end of time, from this fact 
I conclude that the wisdom of God must have provided a living, 
infallible witness, guardian, and interpreter to authenticate, safe- 
guard, and expound in all ages the received revelation and pre- 
serve it in all its purity and integrity. Without such an au- 
thority how can I be certain, that I understand aright its teach- 
ings? Admittedly revelation is open to more than one interpre- 
tation. As a matter of fact many and not infrequently the most 
opposite meanings have been put upon some of its most im- 
portant parts. 

11 ... in religion, 
What damned error, but some sober brow 
Will bless it, and approve it with a text ? " 1 

If there be no living, infallible interpreter, how is it possible 
to determine with certainty the meaning of God's word? And 
if this cannot be ascertained, of what practical value, I ask, would 
such a revelation be to man ? Assuming, then, that God made a 
supernatural revelation of a body of truths to be believed, and 
of precepts to be observed to enable man to fulfil his destiny upon 
earth, submission to God's will, and thus to reach the eternal 
happiness of heaven, the Creator's wisdom and goodness must 
have provided a living and- infallible teacher of His revealed 
word. 

246. The second proof may be formulated thus: Our Lord 

i Merchant of Venice, Act iii, sc. 2. 



148 Proofs of the Immortality 

and Saviour, Jesus Christ, before ascending into heaven, said: 
''He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved; but he that 
beheveth not shall be condemned." 2 Here is a solemn command 
to believe m all the doctrines of His Gospel under pain of repro- 
bation ; doctrines which the Church was charged to preach to all 
nations. Hence we argue thus: 

It is evidently absurd to suppose that Almighty God, infinite 
truth, will impose on man under pain of sin and damnation the 
duty of believing a fallible teacher, one who may both deceive 
and be deceived, for then we should be obliged to believe falsehood 
on pain of disbelieving God, and God, who is truth itself, would 
make belief in falsehood essential to salvation, a supposition not 
less impious than absurd. Therefore, when we assert that God 
authorized the Church to teach, we only say in other words that 
He holds Himself responsible for what she teaches. He vouches 
for the truth of her testimony ; and if she could err or misinter- 
pret the revealed truth, God Himself would become responsible 
for error, and authorize and sanction the teachers of falsehood, 
which is blasphemy to suppose. 

247. After establishing the absolute necessity of a living, in- 
fallible interpreter of God's revelation, it is but natural to ask: 
Where shall we look, in this wide world for the body of teachers 
divinely commissioned to teach and to teach infallibly? The 
answer, thank God, is not far to seek. For when there is ques- 
tion of identifying the Church authorized to teach infallibly, we 
Catholics propose a question in which we encounter no oppo- 
nents ; we vindicate a privilege to which we find no rival claim- 
ants. For it is a well-known fact that all the dissenting sects, no 
matter how much they may differ from one another, are unani- 
mously agreed on this point of disclaiming infallibility in their 
teachers. Moreover, one of the chief charges they make- against 
the Catholic Church is precisely this, her claim to immunity 
from error in her teachings concerning faith and morals. 
Therefore, the free and spontaneous concession of our adversaries 
dispenses us from all further proof. 

To resume our argument, we reason thus: As God made a 
revelation to man, He must have appointed an infallible au- 
thority to interpret it. All Christian denominations, separated 
from Rome, disclaim infallibility. Therefore the Catholic 
Chureh alone is in possession of such a gift. Therefore she alone 
can teach infallibly. 

248. We have purposely dwelt at some length on this point, 
the necessity of an infallible authority, realized in the Catholic 
Church, because our remarks will find an ample application 
throughout our work, in which we frequently appeal to her un- 
erring voice in determining the true, real meaning of God's re- 
vealed word. It is owing to the presence and permanent ac- 

2 Mark xvi. 16. 



Of the Human Soul 149 

tivity of such infallible teacher that the whole structure of 
God's revelation, contained in Scripture and tradition, in the 
written as well as in the spoken word, presents itself to the hu- 
man mind as perfectly consistent, coherent, and supremely ra- 
tional. Among the books of the Old Testament we quote also 
from Tobias, Wisdom, Judith, Ecclesiasticus, and the Macha- 
bees, which have been rejected by the Reformers of the fifteenth 
century as uncanonical and uninspired, and excluded by all 
Protestant Bibles as apocryphal. Protestant readers will there- 
fore reject our quotations from those books as not authentic and 
beside the mark. Our answer is that we cite them because the 
infallible authority of the Catholic Church admits them as au- 
thentic, and inspired, and the Tridentine Canon, which includes 
them, reproduces the exact catalogue of Canonical Books ap- 
proved by the Church as early as the end of the third century of 
the Christian era. By so doing she stood by the apostolic tradi- 
tion, and invariably defended the divine inspiration of those 
wrongly discarded portions of God 's revelations. In this matter 
we may safely adopt the famous saying of St. Augustine: "I 
would not believe the Gospel, except the authority of the Catholic 
Church moved me thereto." See Bishop Mullen's classical work, 
" Canon of the Old Testament." 

249. According to Charles Augustus Briggs, a well-known 
Protestant minister, and able writer, 3 "The early reformers in 
rejecting the so-called Deutero-Canonical Books, were influenced 
by dogmatic considerations, arising from their novel theory of 
faith and good works." And we may add, they were impelled 
by their determination to reject as unscriptural several Catholic 
doctrines distinctly contained in those Books. In fact, one of 
them, Whiteker, says : ' ' Neither will I believe free will, though 
the Book of Ecclesiasticus should confirm it a hundred times." 4 
One of the glaring errors of Luther was the denial of man 's free 
will, which is most clearly asserted in that Book. 5 

It is scarcely necessary to assure the reader that all the Bibli- 
cal quotations we are about to allege contains statements bearing 
directly or indirectly on the question at issue, the immortality 
of man's soul, for they evidently refer to human creatures 
whether still existing in this world, or already forming part of 
the inhabitants of the next. 

Neither is it necessary for us to prove the self-evident truth 
that immortality and life everlasting applied by Holy Scrip- 
ture to rational creatures, convey the same identical truth; 
namely, the endless duration of their existence in the future 
world. 

250. It would be easy enough for any one, having at his com- 
3 Introduction to Holy Scripture, ch. vi. 

* Contra Camp., p. 17. 5 See Ecclus. xv. 14-18. 



150 Proofs of the Immortality 

mand a complete Biblical Concordance, to gather an array of 
texts referring in some way or other to eternity. But such plan 
would fail to bring conviction, for the question we are dealing 
with is not to inquire whether such terms as ' ' eternal, ' ' " ever- 
lasting," "endless," "immortal," may be found in Holy Writ, 
a fact which no one can deny, but whether such terms can be 
applied to the duration of human souls, with which we are now 
exclusively concerned. To secure this object I found it neces- 
sary to analyze every text, and to examine its connection with 
the context, and this I did under the guidance of approved com- 
mentators, so as to be sure that the alleged quotation was perti- 
nent, appropriate, and to the point. 

The readers will no doubt be surprised at the large num- 
ber of quotations bearing witness to the same truth and some 
will think that a considerable retrenchment might have been 
made by the author. Our line of apology is that we are writing 
also for a class of hypercritical readers, regular Aristarchs, whom 
only cumulative evidence can convince. Whoever does not be- 
long to this class of exacting critics may easily skip the supernu- 
merary quotations, and thus economize time. Some remarks will 
accompany such citations as call for special elucidation, so as to 
bring out their full meaning and their bearing on the matter un- 
der discussion. 

Only one or two quotations from each inspired Book are given 
in full ; of the others we shall cite only chapter and verse. 

Bearing in mind the opportune warning of St. Peter, ' ' Under- 
standing this first: that no prophecy of Scripture is made by 
private interpretation, " 6 we deemed it our peremptory duty not 
to put forth a single explanation of the texts adduced that is not 
sanctioned by reliable biblical scholars and approved by the 
Church. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE IMMORTALITY OF MAN'S SOUL, ACCORDING TO 
THE OLD TESTAMENT 

251. Tobias xii. 9: "Alms . . . maketh to find mercy and 
life everlasting." ii. xii. 9. 

Psalm lxxvi, 6 : "I thought upon the days of old and I had 
in my mind the eternal years. ' ' Cardinal Bellarmine thus com- 
ments on this passage : ' ' The holy king in his meditations dwelt 
particularly on the shortness of time as compared with the 
eternity of the future life that awaits us." 

252. Psalm xxxvi, 18, 29: "The Lord knoweth the days of 
the undefiled ; and their inheritance shall be forever. ' ' 

e 2 Peter i. 20. 



Of the Human Soul 151 

The supporters of the annihilation theory in behalf of the 
reprobates are wont to quote from this Psalm, verse 19, in proof 
of their assertion: "And the enemies of the Lord, presently 
after they shall be honored and exalted, shall come to nothing 
and vanish like smoke. ' ' 

These expressions have all reference to the short-lived happi- 
ness of sinners on earth, not to their extinction after death. 
In fact, in verse 28 of the same Psalm it is stated that ' ' The un- 
just shall be punished," words which would be meaningless, if 
those to be punished shall have ceased to exist. 

Ecclesiastes xii. 5. "Man shall go into the house of his 
eternity. ' ' 

Wisdom iii. 1, 4. "The souls of the just are in the hand of 
God, and the torments of death shall not touch them. Their 
hope is full of immortality." 

Ibid. v. 16. "The just shall live forever more." 

The words "forever more" are a literal translation of the 
Latin In saecula saeculorum, a scriptural expression, which ac- 
cording to St. Augustine, means a duration without end. 1 

Ecclesiasticus xxiv. 31. "They that explain me [Wisdom] 
shall have life everlasting. ' ' xxxi, 10. 

Daniel xii, 3. ' ' They that instruct many to justice shall shine 
as stars for all eternity. ' ' 

2 Machabees vii. 9. "The king of the world will raise us up. 
who die for his laws, in the resurrection of eternal life." 

Ibid. viii. 36. "My brethren, having now undergone a short 
pain, are under the covenant of eternal life." 

253. To show that what was asserted by the authors we 
quoted has not been denied or contradicted by another sacred 
writer, Solomon, to whom is attributed the Book of Ecclesiastes, 
we must solve a difficulty based on the following sentences of said 
author: "The death of man and of beasts is one, and the con- 
dition of them both is equal ; as man dieth, so they also die : . . . 
and man hath nothing more than beast. And all things go to 
one place ; of earth they were made, and unto earth they return 
together." iii. 19, 20. 

A certain class of rabbinical scholars of the materialistic type 
allege this passage to prove that the authority of the Old Testa- 
ment is diametrically opposed to the Christian doctrine of the 
immortality of man's soul. The infamous Voltaire, in his so- 
called Philosophical Lexicon, held that these words evidently 
teach the moral, or rather immoral, system of Epicurus, who de- 
nied the existence of future life, and extolled the wisdom of 
those who, indulging their passions, make the best use of the 
present short life. Voltaire then expresses his surprise that 
such a book should have been reckoned by the Jewish tradition 
among the inspired writings and he gives as a reason that, at that 

i De Civ. Dei, xxi. 23. 



152 Proofs of the Immortality 

time, books were very scarce. The flippant unbeliever over- 
looked the fact that the writer of Ecclesiastes says in the same 
Book, (ch. xii. 12) : "Of making many books there is no end." 

But let us address ourselves to the difficulty presented by the 
words quoted above (Eccles. iii. 19-20). According to the an- 
gelic Doctor, St. Thomas, 2 there are two solutions of this old diffi- 
culty. According to the first, Solomon, the writer, does not utter 
his own thoughts and sentiments, but reproduces the language 
of unbelieving materialists, who admit no distinction whatever 
between man and beasts. A similar language, the vain reasoning 
of the wicked, is to be found in the second chapter of the Book 
of Wisdom, of whom the inspired writer says : ' ' Reasoning with 
themselves, but not right." (ii. 1, 2, 3.) 

According to the second explanation, the sacred author wished 
to impress the fact that there is indeed no difference between 
man and the inferior animals as to their bodily organism, which 
is in both material, but that there is a very important distinction 
between the soul of the beasts, which is reproduced from the 
forces of matter and dies with it, and the soul of man, which is 
created by God's omnipotence and survives the body. Hence of 
the animal and the human body, Solomon says in the same 
Book (ch. xii. 7), "And the dust returns into its earth, from 
whence it was": but of man's soul the same inspired writer 
tells us : " And the spirit returns to God who gave it. ' ' 

254. The other text of Ecclesiastes, which calls for an explana- 
tion, is the following: "Who knoweth if the spirit of the chil- 
dren of Adam ascend upward, and if the spirit of the beasts 
descend downward ? " ( iii. 21. ) 

The Agnostics of our times recognize in this somewhat non- 
committal language their own theory, held, they maintain, thou- 
sands of years ago by their predecessors. They will not bluntly 
deny the immortality of the human soul, and the essential dis- 
tinction between man and the brute creation, yet they will, con- 
tend that we can know nothing about these questions, and that 
consequently neither statement can be proved. Rudolph Comely, 
S.J., faces that difficulty and gives this solution: "The meaning 
of that passage is as follows : Though death is common to men 
and beasts, and though they both seem to possess the same vital 
spirit, if we consider only external appearances, yet there exists 
between them a very great difference, of which, alas ! many take 
no account, failing to reflect that the soul of man after death 
ascends to God, as the inspired writer tells us in the same book 
(xii. 7), and that therefore continues to live, whilst the soul of 
beasts perishes with the body which goes to the grave. ' ' 2 Ec- 
clesiastes in that passage (iii. 21) reproduces the language of the 
voluptuaries of his days who, living like beasts, tried to pur- 

2 See his Summa Theologica, la, qu. 75, art. 6. 

3 Introduction, vol. ii, p. 180. 



Of the Human Soul 153 

suade themselves and others that they would wholly perish like 
beasts, thus banishing the disturbing fear of future judgment. 
The true sentiments of the sacred writer cannot be mistaken, 
when we recall what in that same book he tells us of the duty and 
destiny of man. "Fear God and keep His commandments: for 
this is all man." (xii, 13.) "Man shall go into the house of 
his eternity," (xii. 5), that is, he will dwell eternally either in 
heaven or in hell, the place which he himself shall have chosen 
by his good, or by his evil deeds. 

Moreover, it is only of man that Ecclesiastes xii. 5, says: 
"Man shall go into the house of his eternity," for he alone pos- 
sesses a soul that shall live forever. 

The real sentiments of the inspired author are also shown in 
the concluding words of that Book, which sums up in one pithy 
sentence, all the duties of man in this life, that he may render 
himself worthy of the eternal happiness promised to the just in 
the next. 

"Let us all hear together the conclusion of the discourse. Fear 
God, and keep His commandments ; for this is all man." Eccles. 
xii. 13. 

CHAPTER VII 

IMMORTALITY OF THE HUMAN SOUL ACCORDING 
TO THE NEW TESTAMENT 

255. It remained for the Eternal Word, when He took flesh 
in the mystery of the Incarnation, to bring this majestic truth 
into the clearest light by the preaching of His Gospel. The in- 
fallible authority of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, has 
guaranteed to mankind forever the momentous fact of the end- 
less duration of every human soul brought into being by the 
omnipotence of the Creator, thus dissipating all doubts, and 
sweeping off all denials from men's minds. He revealed it by 
the whole tenor of His teachings, the precepts of which require 
for adequate fulfilment and recompense a life beyond the nar- 
row boundaries of time. He revealed it by direct statements 
such as these — "Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very 
great in heaven." x "He [God] is not the God of the dead but 
of the living." 2 "The just shall shine as the sun in the king- 
dom of their Father. " 3 "In My Father 's house there are many 
mansions. ' ' 4 And He proved His right to reveal, and to the 
acceptance of His revelation by men, by the stupendous miracles 
He performed: particularly that of His own triumphant resur- 
rection; the astounding feat, on which He had staked the truth 
of His Gospel, the divinity of His person, and the heavenly char- 
acter of His mission. And His Holy Church proclaims through- 

i Matt. v. 12. 2 ibid. xxii. 32. 3 ibid. xiii. 43. 4 John xiv. 2. 



154 Proofs of the Immortality 

out the flight of centuries the doctrine of her Founder— ' 'I be- 
lieve in Life everlasting." 

Jesus Christ Himself, then, the heavenly appointed Herald, 
delivered this sublime message to men with the clearness of the 
noonday sun ; hence He could with justice announce Himself as 
the Light of the World. "Ego sum lux mundi." 5 The light 
destined to illumine, as the same apostle tells us, "every man 
that cometh into this world." 6 "The only begotten Son," 
writes the blessed disciple, "who is in the bosom of the Father; 
He hath declared Him"; 7 that is, He was sent upon earth to re- 
veal to us God's will in our regard. Though mankind were 
never left in ignorance of their lofty destiny, whether in the 
patriarchal age or in the law of nature, or in the Mosaic dispensa- 
tion, yet it must be said that its divine revelation reached the 
meridian splendor when the Son of Eternal Justice, the Incarnate 
Word, appeared upon earth and lived and conversed with men. 
This is precisely the truth taught by St. Paul in the Epistle to 
the Hebrews. "God, who at sundry times and in divers man- 
ners, spoke in times past to the Fathers by the prophets, last of 
all in these days hath spoken to us by the Son, whom He hath 
appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the world. ' ' 8 

256. The Books constituting the New Testament are twenty- 
seven in number, and, wonderful to say, appropriate quotations 
can be alleged from twenty-six of them, showing how truly the 
dogma of immortality, the interminable life of man's soul, occu- 
pies a most conspicuous part in the pages of Christ's Gospel, and 
the inspired writings of His disciples. The only portion of the 
New Testament that contains no reference to the soul's endless 
existence is the very short letter of St. John to Gaius, which 
treats of personal matters not calling for any special mention of 
truths of Faith such as life eternal. 

Here also we shall give from each Book only one or two quota- 
tions in full, and cite of the others chapter and verse. 

257. Matthew xxii. 31, 32: "And concerning the resurrec- 
tion of the dead, have you not read that which was spoken by 
God, saying to you: I am the God of Abraham, and the God 
of Isaac and the God of Jacob. 9 He is not the God of the dead 
but of the living." God is, properly speaking, the Lord of the 
living, for, before Him, the dead are alive in their surviving, liv- 
ing souls, which, on the day of the Last Judgment, are to be re- 
united to their risen bodies, never to be separated from them, 
for He who uttered the words quoted above also said: "The 
hour cometh, wherein all that are in the graves shall hear the 
voice of the Son of God. And they that have done good things 
shall come forth unto the resurrection of life ; but they that have 
done evil unto the resurrection of judgment. ' ' 10 

s John viii. 12. « Ibid i. 9. i Ibid. i. 18. 

s Heb. i. 1, 2. » Ibid. xix. 29. io John v. 28, 29. 



Of the Human Soul 155 

Mark x. 17: "What shall I do that I may receive life ever- 
lasting?" Ibid. ix. 42-47. 

Luke xviii. 18: "Good Master, what shall I do to possess 
everlasting life ? ' ' 

258. Here the following remark will not be out of place : The 
man who put such weighty question to Our Divine Master must 
have heard Him often speak of that life which He called "ever- 
lasting." In fact, as it appears from the context of the two 
evangelists quoted above, our Blessed Saviour had been speak- 
ing to the multitude of the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of 
God, the eternal reward promised to those who imitate the inno- 
cence of little children, and so the questioner understood Him. 
Now, if the word ' ' everlasting ' ' was not to be taken in its obvi- 
ous, literal sense, as meaning an endless duration, Christ was 
bound in justice to instruct that man and the rest of His audi- 
ence and tell them plainly that He never meant to promise an 
everlasting reward, but something else instead. Did He do so? 
Did He correct the supposed error or mistake of His questioner ? 
No, by no means. He simply gave a straightforward answer to 
the real point He was questioned about, how to secure everlasting 
life, and told him that he could do so by keeping God's com- 
mandments. 

Christ spoke of everlasting life as the future recompense of 
the just, on several other occasions, and particularly in His de- 
scription of the last judgment, telling them of the sentence He 
will pronounce : ' ' The just shall go into life everlasting. ' ' X1 
Did our Blessed Redeemer ever explain away the terms "ever- 
lasting," "eternal," as if they did not mean an endless dura- 
tion? Let our opponents read the New Testament from its first 
to its last line and find, if they can, a single expression modify- 
ing or altering the meaning of these terms. 

The reader will pardon us for inserting this digression, for our 
remark may be utilized in solving the difficulty of the meaning 
of the word "everlasting," particularly when applied to the 
endless punishment of the wicked. (See Matthew xxv. 46.) 

John iii. 15: "That whosoever believeth in Him [Christ] 
may not perish, but have life everlasting." iii. 16, 36; iv. 14, 
36 ; v. 24, 39 ; vi. 40, 47, 55 ; x. 28 ; xii. 25 ; xvii. 3. 

Acts of the Apostles xiii. 46: "You judge yourselves un- 
worthy of eternal life. ' ' xiii. 48. 

Romans ii. 7: "To them indeed, who according to patience 
in good work, seek glory, and honor and incorruption, eternal 
life." vi. 22. 

1 Corinthians xv. 53 : " For this corruptible must put on in- 
corruption; and this mortal must put on immortality." The 
Apostle St. Paul here evidently speaks on the future, glorious, 
bodily life reserved to the risen just. But in what does this 

ii Matt. xxv. 46. 



156 Proofs of the Immortality 

resurrection consist? In the new life communicated through 
divine power, by the blessed soul to the risen body. We have 
here, then, the assurance of a twofold immortality — that of the 
soul, which never dies, and that of the body, restored to an im- 
mensely better life by the power of God. xv. 19. Romans viii. 
23. 

259. 2 Corinthians iv. 17, 18: "That which is at present mo- 
mentary and light of our tribulation worketh for us above 
measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory. While we look 
not at the things, which are seen, but at the things which are not 
seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things 
which are not seen are eternal. ' ' By these words St. Paul meant 
to point out the essential distinction between the goods of this 
life, which are transitory ; and those of the next, which are per- 
manent. Now, this reasoning could not stand, if by the term 
"eternal" were meant not an endless, but only a temporary 
duration of future happiness. For on that supposition both the 
goods of this life and those of the next would finally come to an 
end, and therefore no contrast or opposition could be asserted 
as existing between them. This same reasoning can be justly 
applied to every passage of Holy Scripture that points out the 
necessary difference and distinction between the goods of time 
and those of eternity. (See Rom. viii. 18; 1 John ii. 17.) 

Galatians vi. 8 : " He that soweth in the spirit of the spirit 
shall reap life everlasting." v. 21. 

Ephesians v. 5 : "No fornicator, or unclean, or covetous per- 
son (which is a serving of idols) hath inheritance in the kingdom 
of Christ and of God." 

These words, "the kingdom of God," are fully understood if 
compared with those of the Evangelist St. Luke, chapter i, 32, 
33: "And He (the Son of the Most High) shall reign in the 
house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there shall be no 
end." Here let us also remark that by the expressions "the 
kingdom of God, " " the kingdom of heaven, ' ' our Divine Saviour 
often meant to indicate the eternal inheritance promised to the 
just in His heavenly kingdom. Matthew v. 3 ; vi. 33 ; vii. 21 ; xi. 
12 ; xix. 16. 

See Ephesians i. 18. 

Philippians iv. 3 : " The rest of my fellow-laborers, whose 
names are in the Book of Life." What is meant by being writ- 
ten in the Book of Life, or blotted out from it? The reader will 
find the answer in the following quotations: "He that shall 
overcome, shall thus be clothed in white garments, and I will 
not blot out His name out of the Book of Life." 12 "And who- 
soever was not found. written in the Book of Life, was cast into 
the pool of fire." 13 "There shall not enter into it [the heavenly 
Jerusalem] anything defiled. . . . but they that are written in 

12 Apoc. iii. 5. 13 Ibid. xx. 15. 



Of the Human Soul 157 

the Book of Life of the Lamb." 14 ''And if any man shall take 
away from the words of the Book of this prophecy, God shall 
take away his part out of the Book of Life." 15 The prophet 
David thus predicts the reprobation of the Jewish people for re- 
jecting the future Messias: "Let them be blotted out of the 
Book of the Living, and with the just let them not be written. ' ' 16 

These quotations make it plain that to be written in the Book 
of Life means to be predestined to eternal' glory; and to be 
blotted out from it implies eternal damnation. 

Colossians i. 12 : " Giving thanks to God the Father who hath 
made us worthy of the lot of the saints in light." 

The expression "the lot among the saints" clearly means the 
eternal recompense allotted to the saints, as it appears from the 
following parallel text: "That they may receive forgiveness 
of sin, and a lot among the saints. ' ' 17 The context of both cita- 
tions leaves no doubt about the significance of the phrase, "lot 
of the saints, ' ' it being the reward to be bestowed on those who, 
the writer tells us, are converted from darkness to light, and 
from the power of Satan to God. ' ' 

1 Thessalonians iv. 16 : " And so shall we be always with the 
Lord." The Apostle here speaks of the final lot awaiting the 
saints on the last Judgment Day, when as Christ said: "The 
just shall go into life everlasting. ' ' 18 Hence to be always with 
the Lord plainly means to be forever happy with Him in His 
eternal kingdom. 

1 Thessalonians ii. 12: "Walk worthy of God who hath 
called you unto His Kingdom and glory. ' ' 

That to be "in the Kingdom of God," or of Christ, means to 
possess eternal glory has been explained above under the quota- 
tion to Ephesians v. 5. 

2 Thessalonians iii. 16: "Now the Lord of peace Himself 
give you everlasting peace. " ii. 15 : " The Lord Jesus Christ 
who hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation." 

1 Timothy i. 16 : "For the information of them that shall be- 
lieve in Him unto life everlasting. " iv. 8 ; vi. 12. 

2 Timothy iv. 18 : " The Lord will preserve me unto His 
heavenly Kingdom." (See above for comment on Ephesians v. 
5); ii. 10, 31. 

Titus iii. 7: "That being justified by His grace, we may be 
heirs, according to hope of life everlasting." 1, 2: "Unto the 
hope of life everlasting, which God, who lieth not, hath promised 
before the times of the world. ' ' 

Philemon i. 15: "For perhaps He therefore departed for a 
season from thee that thou mightest receive Him again forever. ' ' 
(That is, for eternity.) 

St. Anselm thus explains this passage: "God, who permits 

i* Ibid. xxi. 27. is Ibid. xxii. 19. is Ps. lxviii. 29. "Acts xxvi. 18. 

is Matt. xxv. 46. 



158 Proofs of the Immortality 

evil that good may come from it, disposed that the slave Onesi- 
mus, having fled from his master, Philemon, should go to St. 
Paul in Rome, where being converted to the Faith, he was bap- 
tized and thus made co-heir with his Christian master, of life 
eternal. 

Hebrews v. 9: "And being consummated, He [Christ] be- 
came to all that obey Him the cause of eternal salvation." ix. 
15: "That they that are called may receive the promise of 
eternal inheritance." i. 14; xiii. 14. 

James i. 12 : " Blessed is the man that endureth temptation ; 
for, when he hath been proved, he shall receive the crown of life 
which God hath promised to them that love Him." The crown 
which God shall give to those that prove their love for Him by 
keeping His commandments, is nothing less than life eternal, as 
it is shown by numberless testimonies of Holy Writ. See Mat- 
thew xix. 16 ; Mark x. 30 ; Luke xvi. 9 ; John x. 28. 1 John ii. 
25 ; Apoc. ii. 10 ; James ii. 5. 

1 Peter iii. 21, 22 : "By the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who 
is on the right hand of God, swallowing down death, that we 
might be made heirs of life everlasting. " v. 10 : ' ' The God of 
all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory in Christ 
Jesus." i. 3, 4. 

2 Peter i. 11: "For so an entrance shall be ministered unto 
you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ. ' ' 

1 John ii. 25: "And this is the promise, which He [Christ] 
hath promised us, life everlasting." ii. 17 ; iii. 15 ; v. 11 ; 13, 20. 

2 John 1, 2: "For the sake of the truth, which dwelleth in 
us, and shall be with us forever. ' ' 

Jude i. 21: "Keep yourselves in the love of the Lord, wait- 
ing for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto life everlast- 
ing." i. 6, 7, 13. 

Apocalypse xxi. 4: "And God shall wipe away all tears from 
their eyes; and death shall be no more." xxii. 5: "And they 
[God's servants] shall reign forever and ever." iii. 21. 

We have alleged from the two Testaments more than sixty 
passages asserting the immortality of man's soul, or its equiva- 
lent, everlasting life, man 's endless existence in the future world. 

And yet, in the face of such overwhelming testimonies, Pro- 
fessor Hudson, an American divine, in "Human Destiny," has 
the effrontery to advance the following statement: "If we 
expunge from the Bible all those passages, in which man's im- 
mortality is expressly mentioned or unquestionably assumed, we 
leave the volume unchanged. ' ' 19 This means, in plain English, 
that in the whole Scripture, from the beginning of Genesis to the 
end of the Apocalypse, we cannot find a single text to prove the 
soul's immortality. Comments are needless. 

19 Page 58. 



Of the Human Soul 159 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE HUMAN SOUL PROVED 
FROM THE AUTHORITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 

260. When we consider the attitude of the Catholic Church 
toward Holy Scripture, of which she is the divinely appointed in- 
terpreter, we may easily foresee what may be her teachings on 
the question at issue, the immortality of man 's soul. Basing then 
her statements on the revealed word of God, she pronounced 
several dogmatic definitions, of which we quote the following, 
contained in the Acta of the Fifth Later an Ecumenical Coun- 
cil held in Rome A. D., 1512-1517 : 1 

PAPAL DEFINITIONS AND THEIR IMPORT 

"With the approval of this sacred Council, we condemn and 
reprobate all who assert that man 's intellective soul is mortal. ' ' 2 
Father D. Palmieri 3 pertinently observes that by this definition 
the Sovereign Pontiff meant to teach that the human soul is by 
its nature, that is, by the exigency of its spiritual faculties, im- 
mortal. Hence it follows that the teaching of the Church on the 
soul's immortality is identical with that of reason and sound 
philosophy, which means that man 's soul is shown to be naturally 
immortal. This is the view taken by the distinguished school- 
man and Doctor, St. Bonaventure, when he writes: "The ra- 
tional soul is immortal according to what Catholic faith teaches, 
a truth taught by philosophy and right reason. ' ' 4 

The pontifical definition noted above was also intended to re- 
fute the absurd theory of some philosophers who maintained that 
something may be true according to divine revelation, that is, as 
a matter of faith; and false according to human intelligence, 
namely, as a matter of reason. The absurdity of such a theory 
is made apparent when we reflect that reason and revelation are 
two lights coming from the same divine source, which therefore 
cannot conflict with each other, for God, Infallible Truth, cannot 
contradict Himself. (See Vatican Council Constit. De Fide et 
Ratione — Second Canon.) 

The Supreme Pontiff, Pius IX, in his Encyclical of Novem- 
ber 9, 1896, thus speaks of this point: "Though faith is above 
reason, yet there can never be found any dissension between 
them, since they both spring from the same immutable source of 
truth, the Most High, and are intended to lend to each other mu- 
tual help." 

To the question, then, "Can the soul's immortality be proved 

i D. Enchiridion, p. 255. 2 Pope Leo X., December 19, 1513. 

3 De Deo Creante, Thesis 29, p. 263. * 2, Dist. 17, a. 1. q. 1. 



160 Proofs of the Immortality 

by reason, and therefore established independently of divine 
revelation?" the illustrious Dominican writer, Melchior Canus, 
in his classical treatise, Be Locis Theologicis, answers thus : 

261. "It is erroneous, we may say heretical, to assert that 
natural reason cannot of itself prove the origin, life, and endless 
existence of man 's soul. This, in fact, has actually been done by 
the most eminent Catholic writers, as well as by eminent philoso- 
phers, such as Plato, Cicero, Seneca, Socrates, and others, who 
argued from principles of reason alone." 5 

Pius IX, refuting and condemning the false Traditionalism of 
Augustine Bonnetty, states that reason can demonstrate with 
certitude the existence of God and the spirituality of the human 
soul. Here the Sovereign Pontiff teaches implicitly the soul's 
immortality, which, as philosophers show, follows logically and 
necessarily from its spirituality. 



CHAPTER IX 
THE SYMBOLS OF FAITH OR CHRISTIAN CREEDS 

262. A brief but comprehensive statement of Catholic Doc- 
trine on our present subject is found in the Creeds or Symbols of 
Faith. 

The principal symbols used by the Church, both in her doc- 
trinal teachings and her liturgical worship, are the following : 

I. The Apostles' Creed, so called because claimed to be of apos- 
tolic origin, according to the ancient testimonies of St. Justin 
Martyr (a. d. 169), St. Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons (a. d. 202), 
the African Tertullian (a. d. 240), and the Oriental Origen (a. 
d. 325). 

II. The Nicene Creed, framed at the first Ecumenical Council 
of Nicea (a. d. 325). 

III. The Constantinopolitan Creed, compiled at the first Gen- 
eral Council of Constantinople (a. d. 381). 

IV. The Tridentine Creed, composed at the Council of Trent 
(a. d. 1564). It is also designated as the Creed of Pius IV, 
who published it in his Bull "Injunctum nobis" of the afore- 
said date. 

V. As to the Quicumque or the Athanasian Creed, Pro- 
fessor Henry Brewer recently proved satisfactorily, it seems, that 
its authorship cannot be attributed to St. Athanasius, the valiant 
patriarch of Alexandria, though it contains all the doctrines 
which he held and vigorously defended. This biblical scholar 
shows, with sufficiently solid arguments, that the composition 

s D Enchiridion, p. 444. 



Of the Human Soul 161 

of this remarkable Creed is to be attributed to St. Ambrose, the 
learned archbishop of Milan. 1 

This symbol was soon adopted by both the Western and the 
Eastern Church, introduced into the liturgy, and reputed as 
expressing in clear language the Apostolic Faith. 

All the above-mentioned Creeds convey the truth, with which 
we are now chiefly concerned; namely, the traditional belief of 
the Church and the faithful in the existence of future life, 
where rational creatures receive from the Lord, the Supreme 
Judge of mankind, either eternal reward or eternal punishment, 
according to their merits or demerits. Now, no retribution can 
be said to be eternal unless the creature to whom it is allotted, 
shall exist for all eternity, and be therefore immortal. 

All these symbols, though couched in different terms, substan- 
tially proclaim the truth so tersely expressed by the Quicumque: 
"Those that shall have done good things shall go into eternal 
life ; but those that shall have done evil shall go into eternal fire. ' ' 
It is well known that a few years ago some dignitaries of the An- 
glican Church in Canada, in one of their general conventions, 
resolved to expunge from that Creed the Article of Faith which 
regards the everlasting punishment of the wicked. That many 
other Protestant ministers of our times are imitating their ex- 
ample, and share with the Unitarians the rejection of eternal 
pains, will be considered later on in the tenth part of this work. 



CHAPTER X 

IMMORTALITY OR ETERNAL LIFE PROVED FROM THE 
LITURGY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 

263. The passage or transition from the Creeds to the liturgy 
is quite natural; the former give us the lex credendi — the rule 
of faith, the latter tells us the formula precandi — the form of 
prayer or of worship; hence the saying: Formula precandi 
est lex credendi. — The manner of praying furnishes the rule of 
believing, and the rule of believing regulates the form of prayer. 

For brevity 's sake I will confine the reader 's attention to only 
one portion of the extensive field of Roman Liturgy, the Holy 
Mass, which portion may rightly be called the most sacred of 
all its several parts. We shall then limit our investigations to 
that marvelous rite, and examine the prayers of the Church em- 
ployed in its celebration. This kind of review will interest not 
only the priests, to whom Latin is familiar, but also lay people, 
who may provide themselves with a Missal for the laity, an Eng- 
lish approved version of the Latin Missal used by priests in the 

* D. Enchiridion, p. 18, note. 



162 Proofs of the Immortality 

celebration of the Holy Sacrifice. My labor in going over the 
Missal from cover to cover has been amply rewarded, as may be 
judged from the following results, a truly striking revelation. 

The number of prayers by which Holy Church implores from 
God for the faithful that greatest of blessings, the attainment of 
eternal happiness, is not less than three hundred and sixty. The 
wordings employed are, of course, varied, but they mean sub- 
stantially one and the same thing— the attainment and the posses- 
sion of heavenly glory, the crowning gift of God's infinite good- 
ness and mercy. This circumstance reminds us of what com- 
mentators have remarked on the conclusion of each of the eight 
beatitudes preached by our Divine Saviour in His Sermon on 
the Mount. With the exception of the first and the last, which 
distinctly promise the kingdom of heaven, the other six beati- 
tudes convey the promise of the same heavenly recompense, but 
they express it in different terms. 

264. Moreover, we are not surprised that the principal object 
the Church has in view in that most sacred rite, the clean obla- 
tion foretold by the Prophet Malachias, 1 is to secure to the faith- 
ful that greatest of heavenly favors, everlasting happiness in 
God's kingdom. 2 Here we have an additional proof of the cheer- 
ing truth to be stated in Part IV ; namely, that all the dealings 
of Divine Providence with rational creatures, both in the 
natural and the supernatural order, are directed to the same 
lofty purpose, the glory of God and the eternal salvation and 
happiness of men. In the invocation "Hanc igitur," in the 
Canon of the Mass, immediately before the consecration, the 
great central act of the holy sacrifice, the officiating priest prays 
to the Lord that, through the merits of the spotless victim, Jesus 
Christ, he and the assisting faithful may be delivered from 
eternal damnation and numbered among the saints. And in 
that most sacred of all moments, when the officiating priest ad- 
ministers to himself Holy Communion and distributes it to the 
faithful, the Church bids him pronounce those sublime words: 
"May the body of Our Lord Jesus Christ keep my soul for life 
eternal"; "May the body of Our Lord Jesus Christ keep your 
soul for life eternal," thus reminding us of the everlasting bliss 
of which every worthy communion is a guarantee and a pledge. 
Of this we are assured by the words of our Divine Master Him- 
self, who said: "He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My 
blood hath everlasting life, and I will raise him up in the last 
day." 3 

265. Most appropriate and sublime in their significant brevity 
are the words of the Ritual, which the priest pronounces in the 
act of administering Viaticum to the dying Christian : ' ' Receive 
the Viaticum of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He may 

iMal. i. 11. 2 John xiv. 3. 3 John vi. 55. 



Of the Human Soul 163 

protect you against the malign enemy, and bring you to life 
everlasting. ' ' 

266. Regarding this sacrament St. Thomas proposes to him- 
self this little question or difficulty : ' ' This sacrament is called 
Viaticum, because, nourishing us travelers in this life, it is in- 
tended to bring us to our heavenly country : but this purpose or 
effect is common to all the sacraments, which are administered to 
us travelers for that same object, that is to enable us to reach the 
glory of that celestial country. ' ' 

He thus solves the difficulty : ' ' The end of a sacrament is two- 
fold. The proximate or immediate end is the sanctification of 
the recipient ; and the last end is life eternal. To reach this last 
end, the Holy Eucharist is most efficacious, inasmuch as it really 
contains that by which the gates of heaven were opened to us, 
that is, the blood of Christ. Therefore it is for that special 
reason called Viaticum. ' ' 4 

267. In this connection it is well to recall the cheering thought 
that the world we inhabit, nay, the whole universe, though en- 
joyed also by God's enemies, and by such of His other creatures 
as refuse or neglect to recognize Him as their Sovereign Lord 
and Supreme Benefactor, was created for the special benefit of 
His faithful, loyal, grateful servants. This is so true that to 
the question, "When shall mankind cease to exist upon earth?" 
Holy Scripture, God's own word, gives the following answer 
registered in the Apocalypse, the last of the inspired books. 
The souls of the martyrs and the saints who, witnessing so many 
iniquities in this world, cried with a loud voice, saying : ' ' How 
long, O Lord, (Holy and True), dost Thou not judge and revenge 
our blood on them that dwell on the earth? . . . And it was 
said to them that they should rest for a little time till their fel- 
low-servants and their brethren, who are to be slain even as they, 
should be filled up. ' ' 5 

To the vehement desires and earnest supplications of the mar- 
tyrs and the saints to the Lord that He would deign to put an 
end to the persecutions endured by His servants and hasten the 
coming of the Judgment Day, God answered that they should 
wait patiently for a little time, till the number of the elect — 
namely, those who, by their martyrdom and sufferings, were to 
win the heavenly crown — should be completed. The Lord said 
"for a little time," for, as the Psalmist tells us, "A thousand 
years in thy sight are as yesterday, which is past. ' ' 6 

4-In 4 Sent. D. viii., p. iii. qu. 79, art. 2. 6 Ps. lxxxix. 4. 

sApoc. vi. 10, 11. 



164 Proofs of the Immortality 



CHAPTER XI 

BELIEF OF THE ANCIENT JEWISH PEOPLE IN THE 
IMMORTALITY OF THE HUMAN SOUL 

SOURCE OR ORIGIN OF THEIR BELIEF 

268. The idea that the Hebrews had of the nature of man's 
soul is that which they learned from their lawgiver, Moses, who, 
in few simple words narrates the origin of the first man : ' i And 
the Lord said: Let Us make man to Our image and likeness. 
And the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth; and 
breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a liv- 
ing soul. ' ' 1 They thus learned the essential distinction between 
the two constituent elements of man; namely, the body, which 
comes from the earth; and the soul, derived from the divine 
breath by a direct, creative action of God, a truth clearly taught 
by the inspired writer, Solomon: "And the dust shall return 
into the earth, whence it was, and the spirit return to God, who 
gave it. " 2 

Man, therefore, is God's image, not because of his body or 
of his corporal life, which are common to the brute creation, but 
chiefly because of his possessing a spiritual, intelligent, free 
soul; endowments that constitute an impassable gulf between 
him and all other earthly creatures, whether animate or inani- 
mate, and cause him to resemble the noblest of created beings, 
the angelic spirits. 

Hence, the Royal Psalmist thus addresses the Lord: "What 
is man that Thou art mindful of him? . . . Thou hast made 
him a little less than the angels, Thou hast crowned him with 
glory and honor, and hast set him over the work of Thy hands. ' ' 3 

The ancient Hebrews learned further precious knowledge from 
the Sacred Book, namely, the persevering life of the soul after 
death, and the consequent retribution by the Lord, the Supreme 
Judge, to the just and the wicked. 

269. The belief of the Jewish people in a continued existence 
after death is exemplified in the language of the Scriptures rela- 
tive to the dying holy patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and to 
Moses and his brother Aaron: 

"Abraham died in a good old age . . . and was gathered to 
his people. " 4 " Isaac, being spent with age, died and was 
gathered to his people." 5 "And Jacob charged them [his 
twelve sons], saying: I am now going to be gathered to my 
people. . . . and he died, and he was gathered to his people." 6 

i Gen. i 26, ii. 7. 2 Eccles. xii. 7. 

3 Ps. viii. 5. 6; Gen. i. 28; Heb. ii. 6, 7. * Gen. xxv. 8. 

5 Ibid. xxxv. 29. 6 ibid. xlix. 29, 32. 



Of the Human Soul 165 

"And the Lord spoke to Moses . . . saying: When thou art 
gone up into it [the mountain Abarim] thou shalt be gathered to 
thy people as Aaron thy brother died on Mount Hor, and was 
gathered to his people. ' ' 7 

According to the unanimous interpretation of the Fathers and 
the consent of Catholic commentators, the expression "gath- 
ered to their people" meant that by death their soul passed 
from the earthly pilgrimage 8 to the abode of their Fathers ; that 
is, to the company of the just, awaiting in Limbo their deliver- 
ance and heavenly happiness by the coming of the Redeemer. 
As the wheat is gathered into the barn, 9 so their holy souls were 
gathered into the place allotted to the saints of the Old Testa- 
ment. Such interpretation is fully borne out and confirmed by 
the authority of our Blessed Saviour Himself, who, referring to 
the surviving souls of those holy patriarchs, confutes the error 
of the Sadducees, who denied the resurrection, and consequently 
the soul's immortality, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, 
"For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither 
angel, nor spirit. " 10 " And Jesus answering said to them : 
. . . concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read 
that which was spoken by God saying to you: I am the God 
of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. ' ' " 
"He is not the God of the dead, but of the living." 12 (See n. 
259.) 

At a meeting of the French Academy, January 17, 1749, Pro- 
fessor Pierret expressed his great surprise at the statement of 
some fellow Academicians, who held that it cannot be proved 
even from the oldest inspired record, that the Hebrews at the 
time of Moses believed in the immortality of the soul. "As for 
myself, ' ' he said, ' ' nothing is more evident to me than the proofs 
that establish such belief." Professor Joseph Helevy, an emi- 
nent Orientalist scholar, stated before the members of the 
Academy that it was impossible that the Hebrews should have 
ignored the great truth on account of their long sojourn in coun- 
tries where belief in man's future existence was firmly estab- 
lished, particularly among the Egyptians. 

270. A distinguished Egyptologist, Isaac Myer, in his work 
entitled "Scarabs as Religious Symbolisms," writes: "It may 
be advanced with much certainty that the Hebrew people resid- 
ing in ancient Egypt must have been acquainted with many of 
the Egyptian ideas on the subject of the eternal future life of the 
soul of the dead, and the reward or punishment of it in that 
future world, for these ideas were undoubtedly widely and gen- 
erally known to the Egyptian people, and were too thoroughly 
formulated in the active and daily life of the ancient Egyp- 
tian population, not to have been known by the Hebrews living 

7 Dent, xxxii. 50. 8 Gen. xlvii. 9. 9 Matt. iii. 12. 

io Acts xxiii. 8. "Ex. iii. 6. ™ Matt. xxii. 31, 32. 



166 Proofs of the Immortality 

in daily contact with them, (for four hundred years)." 13 

271. M. Maury, another member of the French Academy, 
said: "With a few insignificant exceptions, there exists among 
the nations a unanimous belief on this point, that there is some 
kind of continuation of man's life after death, and the Jewish 
people were certainly no strangers to such traditional belief." 

Mr. Fliigel, a German savant, placed this truth in the clearest 
light by passing in review the beliefs and traditions of the na- 
tions of antiquity. It is therefore incontestable that the Hebrew 
nation must have shared the general belief, particularly if we 
take into account the fact that the divinely inspired books in 
their possession preserved their knowledge of the soul's immor- 
tality from many erroneous accretions with which gentile nations 
somewhat obscured it. It were strange indeed, if the Chosen 
People had alone remained destitute of that faith in immor- 
tality which survived amidst all the aberrations of paganism, 
and was more or less distinctly cherished in every nation of an- 
tiquity, being but the echo of His voice who never left Himself 
without witnesses among men ; who speaks to mankind not only 
by His commissioned prophets, but also by the mouth of the 
sages of Greece and Rome. But nowhere was that belief more 
keenly realized than in the land where the Israelites dwelt for 
four hundred years. Herodotus, the oldest historian of the gen- 
tile nations, asserts that the Egyptians were the first to teach 
other peoples the truth of the soul 's immortality. 14 For through 
all the dark idolatries of their Egyptian taskmasters, there 
loomed in the despised slaves the vision, grotesque and distorted, 
it may be, but intensely clear, of future retribution and of a world 
beyond the grave. 

Moreover, the general prevalence of a belief in eternal pun- 
ishment among the Jews, which evidently implies the endless ex- 
istence of human souls, is borne out, not only by rabbinical au- 
thorities, but by the still weightier testimony of the Jewish Apoca- 
lyptic writings. According to the Edersheim, "only the per- 
fectly just enter at once into Paradise. Others pass through 
a period of purification. But notorious breakers of the law, 
and especially apostates from the Jewish faith and heretics, 
have no hope whatever, here or hereafter." 

Josephus, the famous Jewish historian, bears witness to the be- 
lief of his people in the immortality of the soul, and in the 
everlasting prison allotted to the wicked — sentiments evidently 
involving the admission of the soul's continued existence in the 
future world. 15 

is Preface p. xiv, xv. i* Lib. ii, 123. 

is Jewish Antiquities, ch. xviii; Jewish Wars, bk. ii. 



Of the Human Soul 167 



CHAPTER XII 

THE QUESTION OF THE JEWISH BELIEF IN IMMOR- 
TALITY DISCUSSED IN THE FRENCH ACADEMY 

272. This important question was again discussed in the 
French Academy about 48 years ago, in 1870, when two Academi- 
cians, M. Derenbourg and the infamous Renan, ventured to 
maintain that the Hebrew Scriptures made no allusion whatever 
to the doctrine of immortality, and that consequently the Jewish 
people entirely ignored it. 

The two rash opponents had reason to regret their unwar- 
ranted assertion, for Msgr. Freppel, the valiant bishop of Angers, 
himself a member of the Academy, in two solid essays com- 
pletely refuted these adversaries by citing numerous historical 
documents, and particularly by adducing an array of Scriptural 
quotations, that placed the belief and tradition of the Jewish 
nation on the soul's immortality beyond all reasonable doubt. 1 

From his able defense he draws the conclusion that it is indeed 
supremely absurd to suppose that Moses, the prophets, and 
other inspired writers hid from their brothers, the Israelites, the 
truth of that important dogma, the soul's immortality and future 
retribution. 

273. To the quotations alleged in a preceding chapter (XI) 
we add the following, which all bear undeniable testimony to 
the truth eloquently established by Msgr. Freppel, both in his 
spoken address before the French Academy and in his printed 
work referred to above. 

Deuteronomy xxxii. 29: "0 that they would be wise and 
would understand, and would provide for their last end ! ' ' Here 
the holy Prophet Moses, as he approached the end of his days, 
expresses his earnest wish that his people should frequently think 
of the lot either of happiness or of woe awaiting all of them at 
their death and should show their wisdom by timely forethought 
and provision. 

274. But the strongest testimony is that offered by the classic 
text of the Book of Job. 

Job xix. 25, 26, 27 : "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and on 
the last day I shall rise out of the earth. And I shall be clothed 
again with my skin, and in my flesh I shall see my God, whom 
I myself shall see and my eyes shall behold and not another; 
this my hope is laid up in my bosom. ' ' 

Rationalists, embarrassed by so striking a witness to the truth 
of future resurrection and of the implied immortality of the soul 
to be once more reunited to its former material organism the 

i See CEuvres Polemiques de Msgr. Freppel, Paris, 1898. 



168 Proofs of the Immortality 

body, have taxed their brains to devise interpretations intended 
to nullify altogether the prophet's sublime revelation; but to 
no purpose, for eminent Biblical scholars, regardless of their 
creed, have approved the Catholic Vulgate's reading and en- 
dorsed its obvious meaning. Among others, the Abbe Le Hir, 
Kenan's professor at St. Sulpice, speaking of his apostate disci- 
ple 's translation of that text says : ' ' We see in it neither gram- 
mar nor logic, nor scholarship worthy of the name. It is sheer 
obstinacy that caused this would-be Hebrew scholar to pervert 
God's word with a view to throw doubt and discredit on a dogma 
fully believed by the ancient Hebrews, and distinctly stated in 
other passages of Holy Writ. (Ezechiel xxxvii; Daniel xii. 2. 
3.) See "La Bible et les Decouvertes Modernes, par Yigoroux." 

275. When dealing with these topics we must bear in mind 
the following remark : The truth of the soul 's immortality must 
not be confounded with the belief in a future resurrection. The 
two concepts are entirely distinct ; hence there may exist in some 
individuals the belief in the soul's immortality, without the 
knowledge of the resurrection of the body. And this for the 
following reason: The soul's immortality, clearly proclaimed 
in divine revelation, is also demonstrated by reason alone, as we 
have done in previous chapters. But the future resurrection of 
the human body is a doctrine exclusively known from God's 
revelation, on whose will it wholly depends. Reason alone can- 
not demonstrate the certainty of its future occurrence ; but when 
once revealed, it can show its rational fitness and justice, as we 
shall show in Part IV. 

As to the fact that the soul's immortality is distinctly taught 
in Holy Writ, it has been rightly remarked by Biblical scholars 
that whilst from Genesis to the Apocalypse not a single text 
can be advanced disproving that paramount truth, hundreds of 
passages can be adduced to establish it. 



CHAPTER XIII 

ADDITIONAL EVIDENCES OF THE JEWISH BELIEF 
IN IMMORTALITY 

276. Such strong allusions pervade the Hebrew Scriptures 
that the truth must force itself upon every unprejudiced reader, 
that the immortality of the soul formed an integral portion of 
Jewish belief from the most ancient times. And, indeed, if it 
be agreed that the Hebrew Scriptures are divinely inspired, how 
is it possible that the doctrine of immortality, the very founda- 
tion of religion, should have been either obscurely taught or en- 
tirely omitted? 

Before alleging some of the many additional testimonies that 



Of the Human Soul 169 

might be adduced in behalf of our thesis, we must refer to a 
special difficulty connected with our subject and subjoin the 
answer. 

If it be true, it is asked, that belief in an endless future exist- 
ence did prevail among the Jewish people from the earliest ages, 
how does it come that temporal blessings are chiefly, if not almost 
exclusively, held out to the Israelites as the reward of righteous- 
ness, whilst earthly calamities are principally threatened against 
the transgressors of God's commands? In answer to this ques- 
tion it has been justly remarked that the promises and menaces 
of the Pentateuch are not all addressed to individuals. In al- 
most every instance they appeal to the nation at large. And for 
a nation it is obvious that there can be no immortality in heaven, 
inasmuch as there is no nationality there. The destinies of na- 
tions, kingdoms, and empires must be realized on earth. The 
great truth to be impressed upon the Israelites again and again 
was that their national prosperity depended absolutely upon 
their obedience as a nation to the Divine Law. 1 The great truth, 
which every people should take to heart, for as righteousness 
brings prosperity and happiness, so wickedness leads to misery 
and ruin. "Justice," says Holy Writ, "exalteth a nation; but 
sin maketh a nation miserable. ' ' 2 

277. Here the thoughtful reader will not object, I am sure, if, 
digressing for a while from our subject, we take occasion to ob- 
serve that the European nations now engaged in the disastrous 
war that shocks the world, are severely punished for their de- 
parture from the path of justice and punished precisely in what 
constitutes national grandeur and splendor, that is, wealth, nu- 
merous subjects, commercial prosperhy, and all the other bless- 
ings of peace. The indictment, as testified by modern history, 
is a heavy one. Repeated enactments of unjust and unchristian 
laws; official tolerance of, and, in many cases, actual connivance 
at the blackest crimes and insults against the Supreme Ruler of 
Nations, whose sacred name is allowed to be blasphemed with 
impunity; religious persecution under pretext of political self- 
protection ; and other iniquities have evidently provoked the di- 
vine vengeance against the guilty. "And now, ye kings, un- 
derstand ; receive instruction you that judge the earth. ' ' 3 

278. Returning to our subject, we find a striking text in the 
Book of Numbers. The prophet Balaam (a Gentile) prays thus 
to the Lord: "Let my soul die the death of the just, and my 
last end be like to them. ' ' 4 Here the scope of his supplication 
could not have been that his physical dissolution should be like 
that of the good, because in that respect there is no distinction 
between them and the wicked, as they are both subject to the 
same agony and pangs. But Balaam, quickened by divine in- 

iPs. lxxxviii. 31, 32, 33. 2 p r0 v. xiv. 34. 

3Ps. ii. 10. * Num. xxiii. 10. 



170 Proofs of the Immortality 

spiration, looked beyond his present life, and longed for the im- 
mortal happiness reserved to the just in the life to come. 

We cannot but see the deep conviction of immortality ex- 
hibited by David in many of his Psalms. He is penetrated to the 
full with conscious faith in the perpetuity of the soul, the light, 
the glory promised to the just, whose portion is in the Lord for- 
ever. 

Thus he sings : "I shall be satisfied when Thy glory shall ap- 
pear." 5 "With Thee is the fountain of life, and in Thy light 
we shall see light. ' ' 6 

Other quotations from Old Testament Revelation have been 
given before, particularly in the chapter on the testimonies of 
immortal, eternal life and need not be repeated here. 

Reference may also be briefly made here to the fact that 
Josephus, the renowned Jewish historian, at the siege of Jeru- 
salem, seeks to restrain his soldiers from committing suicide, by 
impressing upon them the doctrine of the survival of the soul 
after death and their accountability to God, their Supreme 
Judge. ' ' Know you not that those who acting madly put an end 
to their own existence are condemned to the darkest place of 
Hades?" 7 

279. As a conclusion of this subject, a quotation from an emi- 
nent Jewish philosopher, Rabbi Moses Mendelsohn, will not be 
considered inappropriate. Following are the words, which, in 
one of his dialogues, he puts in the mouth of Socrates: "He 
who fulfils his duty here on earth with constancy, despite all diffi- 
culties, and who bears all adversities with resignation to the di- 
vine will, must enjoy the reward of his virtues hereafter. And 
the man of vice cannot pass away without being brought to the 
knowledge, in some mode or other, that evildoing is not the path 
of happiness In one word, it would be contrary to all the at- 
tributes of God, His wisdom, His goodness, His justice, if He 
had created rational beings that were to strive for perfection 
for a merely temporary, evanescent existence." 8 

280. After perusing the last three chapters treating of the be- 
lief of the ancient Jewish people in the soul's immortality and 
the consequent eternal retribution, the reader will no doubt be 
surprised at the view put forward by the "Jewish Encyclopedia" 
on this important subject. Here is what we find in volume v. 
pages 564 et seq. : "The belief in the immortality of the soul is 
nowhere expressly taught in the Holy Scripture. The human 
soul is identified with the life-blood. As soon as the soul leaves 
the body at death, it goes down to Sheol or Hades, there to lead 
a shadowy existence without life and consciousness. The belief 
in a continued life of the soul was discouraged and suppressed 

s Ps. xvi. 15. 6 Ps. xxxv. 10. 7 The Jewish War. 

s See Essay of Rabb. Hermann Adler in Symposium on Immortality. — 
London, 1885. 



Of the Human Soul 111 

by Moses, prophet and lawgiver, as antagonistic to the belief in 
the Lord, the God of life, the Ruler of heaven and earth. ' ' Then 
the writer, confounding the immortality of man's body in the 
state of innocence with the immortality of the soul, writes: 
"Man being driven out of the garden of Eden was deprived of 
the opportunity of eating of the tree of life, the food of immor- 
tality." This is the stuff we are favored with by this preten- 
tious Encyclopedia of fifteen volumes, purporting to be a de- 
scriptive record of the history, religion, literature, and customs 
of the Jewish people from its earliest times to the present day. 
If the other accounts of the Hebrew nation given in those mas- 
sive volumes are as erroneous and mendacious as those we quote, 
that work is not worth the paper it is printed on, and deserves 
no place in any public library whose managers have any re- 
spect for correct knowledge and historical truth. 

With regard to the condition of the souls of the just in Limbo 
till their deliverance by the Blessed Redeemer, Catholic doctrine 
teaches that, far from being solitary and sad, they enjoyed a 
cheerful, social life made happy by the anticipation of the heav 
enly glory that awaiteth them. 

CHAPTEE XIV 

THE BELIEF OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS IN THE 

IMMORTALITY OF THE HUMAN SOUL AND IN THE 

ENDLESS DURATION OF FUTURE RETRIBUTION 

EGYPTIAN DOCUMENTS 

281. We happily possess many written documents, which, as 
modern Egyptologists testify, are decisive, and make all doubt 
impossible on the question at issue. The most important of these 
documents is the Book of the Dead. It is one of the world's 
most ancient texts, it dates from the earliest dynasties, and ex- 
tracts are found graven on the latest tombs discovered by modern 
archeologists. It was so popular and held to be so useful for the 
other life that every one was eager to take it with him into his 
grave. Hence, one of the most important services one could 
render to a dying man was to furnish him with a complete copy 
of the book, or at least, with a transcription of its essential parts. 
It was intended to instruct the departed soul in all that it must 
accomplish in the other world. Now, not only does this book ex- 
pressly affirm the immortality of the soul, but by its very nature 
and aim it presupposes and exacts it, so much so that without 
this belief the book would be utterly pointless and lose all raison 
d'etre. It implies throughout a continuation of the personality 
of the departed ; it is still the same individual that existed upon 
earth, and who exclaims : "I die not a second time in the nether 
world." 



172 Proofs of the Immortality 

The belief in another life is therefore one of the best estab- 
lished points in Egyptian religion. 

We gather from the same French edition these citations: 
1 ' The soul of the departed lives for eternity, it dies no more. ' ' x 

"The soul enters into the hall of truth, and, being found un- 
purified, it is cleansed from sin, that it may be admitted to be- 
hold the face of the gods. ' ' 2 

In one part of the book 3 a scene is presented, which bears wit- 
ness to their belief in man's immortality, his accountability, 
and future retribution. 

The departed soul appears before Osiris, the Judge, and thus 
addresses him : ' ' There is no evil in me. No one can accuse me 
of wrong-doing. What I have done let men proclaim and the 
gods will rejoice at it." Then its heart is weighed on a great 
balance against the symbol of justice, and before the god that 
registers its freedom from sin. Then the soul is allowed to enter 
into the realm of the blessed among the attendants of the great 
God. 4 

282. Professor Schiapparelli, personally known to the writer, 
is one of the most distinguished Egyptologists of our times, and 
has been for years the Curator of the famous Egyptian Museum 
of Turin. Its collection of Egyptian papyri is the richest in the 
world, as testified by encyclopedias. We here translate only 
a few extracts from his learned work, which, as it appears from 
its title, given in the footnote, exactly covers our ground. 

"The inscriptions on the tombs, those found in the numer- 
ous temples whose ruins are still standing on the banks of the 
Nile from Alexandria to Assuan, bear eloquent testimony to the 
deeply rooted religious feelings of the nation. From the con- 
ception of an infinite, benevolent, and provident God, there 
naturally arose in the Egyptian 's heart the tendency to resort to 
Him in his wants. He was thus led to admire, fear, and love 
Him, and to regulate his moral conduct so as to please Him, and 
thereby secure tranquillity and peace in the present life and 
perfect, eternal happiness in the next. Here also, as in the old 
Assyrian people, among the numerous deities one is recognized 
as supreme. With the great majority of the Egyptians the 
Supreme Being was believed to be uncreated, that is, self -exist- 
ing, eternal, infinite, omnipotent, who, by an act of His will, cre- 
ated all that exists. He is present everywhere; from the height 
of his throne, He watches over men, chastising the wicked and 
rewarding the good. ' ' 5 

i Le livre des Morts, French translation from the Egyptian papyri pre- 
served in the Museum of Turin, Italy, and in that of the Louvre Museum 
in Paris by Msgr. Pierret. Paris, 1907, eh. xxx, 12, 27. 

2 Ibid. eh. xxv. p. 308, n. 44, p. 313, n. 59. 3 ibid. eh. cxxv, p. 315. 

4 Ibid. ch. xliv, p. 129, et seq. 

s Religious Sentiments of the Ancient Egvptians, by Professor Ernest 
Schiapparelli. Rome, 1877, pp. 1, 13, 31. 



Of the Human Soul 173 

283. "From the beginning to the end of his life," says Pro- 
fessor Budge, "the Egyptian's chief thought was of the life be- 
yond the grave. Sufficient is known of the Egyptians' religion 
to prove with certainty that they possessed, about four thousand 
years ago, a religion and a system of morality, which, when 
stripped of its corrupt accretions, stands second to none among 
those that have been developed by the greatest nations of the 
earth, outside old Judaism and Christianity. ' ' 6 

"The belief, that the deeds done in the body would be sub- 
jected to scrutiny by the divine powers after death belongs to 
the earliest period of Egyptian civilization, and it remained sub- 
stantially the same in all generations. ' ' 7 

1 i They held that the souls of the wicked, the incorrigibles, were 
punished for an indefinite period. ' ' 8 

The following sentence, expressing the dualism of man's na- 
ture, is traced to the Fifth Dynasty, 3400 b. c. 

' ' The soul to heaven, the body to earth. ' ' 9 The very truth 
with the substitution of "God" for "heaven" proclaimed by 
Solomon : ' ' And the dust shall return to its earth, from whence 
it was, and the spirit return to God who gave it. ' ' 10 

284. Professor Steindorff writes: "The most popular, the 
most widespread, and, at the same time, certainly the oldest of 
the Egyptian notions respecting the hereafter was that, accord- 
ing to which, after death a human being leads a second life." 

"As a condition for admission to a life of eternal blessedness 
several requirements are exacted from the departed. They must 
have led a virtuous life on earth and be found just, only then 
will they attain a happiness like that of the God Osiris. ' ' al 

Kev. A. Mallon, in a recent lecture translated from the French 
(p. 21) gives the list of the thirty questions, to every one of which 
the soul, at its judgment, must answer negatively, in order to 
be admitted to the abode of the gods. They fully cover the 
whole field of possible moral transgressions. 

For a collection of the Egyptian maxims or sayings relating 
to life and death, and divine retribution to human creatures, ac- 
cording to their deeds, see the work entitled "Pyramid Texts" 
edited by the renowned Orientalist scholar Maspero in his 
Reveue des Travaux. 

285. Baron Ravisi writes: "We can gather a fairly accu- 
rate idea, of the Egyptians' belief on the nature of the human 
soul from what we find in their ancient documents. Man, they 
tell us, is composed of two distinct elements, a body and a soul. 
The former component is material, ponderable, divisible, un- 
conscious, dependent, inert, mortal, and destructible. The lat- 

6 Egyptian Ideas of the Future Life, bv Professor Wallis Budge. Lon- 
don, 1908. Preface. 

7 Ibid. p. 110. s ibid. p. 113. 9 Ibid. p. 107. io Eccles. xii. 7. 
ii The Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, by G. Steindorff, Professor of 

Egyptology at the University of Leipzig. New York, 1905, pp. 116, 131. 



174 Proofs of the Immortality 

ter, the soul, possesses the opposite qualifications, and is there- 
fore spiritual, unponderable, undivisible, conscious, independent, 
active, immortal and indestructible, with the power of perpetu- 
ally animating the body in the life to come." 12 

Moreover, Egyptian philosophy quite correctly employed the 
following terms : ' ' Life is the union of the soul with the body. 
Death is their temporary separation. Resurrection is their 
eternal reunion in the next world. " 13 It is scarcely necessary 
to remark that only from divine revelation, handed down by 
tradition from primitive ages, could men know anything 
about a future union of soul and body. Perhaps through the 
Hebrews they become acquainted with the striking passage of 
the book of Job xix. 25, 26, 27, or with the prophecy of Ezechiel 
xxxvii. 

In a learned essay Professor Francesco Rossi writes as follows : 

"It is interesting to notice the three classes of departed souls 
and how they are dealt with at the judgment. 

"The first, which we had occasion to describe above, consists 
of those, whose virtue is ascertained by the fact of their stand- 
ing the judicial test, when weighed in the balance against the 
symbol of justice. They receive the promise of resurrection and 
are at once introduced to the dwelling place of the blessed. 14 

1 1 To the second class belong the souls that are allowed to join 
the company of the blessed only after their being cleansed and 
purified from some lighter stains. 

"Lastly are reckoned as incorrigible, or twice dead, the souls 
of unbelievers, the despisers of the gods and such as were guilty 
of the grossest crimes. These were condemned to endure hor- 
rible torments." 15 (See n. 291.) 

The Egyptian eschatology then substantially agrees with the 
Catholic doctrine on heaven, purgatory, and hell. We prove in 
another part of our work that such was also the teaching 
of Plato and Plutarch. 

The Italian historian Cesare Cantu has this to say: "As the 
basis of the Egyptians' religion we find the unity of God, the 
Supreme Deity. One of their temples bore the inscription: 
'I am He who is, was, and shall be. No one can lift up the veil 
that hides Me.' The human soul never dies; divine intelligence 
through the primeval revelation made known to man the origin 
of his soul, its destiny, and the rewards or penalties that await 
it hereafter." 16 

12 The Soul and the Body According to Egyptian Traditions, by Baron 
de Ravisi; p. 173. 

is Ibid. p. 233. i* See Book of the Dead, quoted in n. 281. 

is The Religious Belief of Ancient Egypt, by Professor Francesco Rossi, 
Turin, 1908; pp. 18, 19. 

16 Universal History, French version, third edition, vol.i. ch. xxii. 



Of the Human Soul 175 



ADDITIONAL TESTIMONIES ON THE RELIGION OP ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 

286. As we said above, there is abundance of material, both 
monumental and literary, revealing to posterity what the ideas 
of this people were on the subject of future life. So we have 
reliable records which let us into the secrets of Egyptian thought 
and practice of three or four thousand years ago. In ancient 
times the belief in a future life was so associated with the inhabi- 
tants of the Nile Valley, that the Egyptians had the repute of 
both holding the belief in the soul's immortality and of having 
themselves communicated that doctrine to other nations. 

According to them, everlasting life was to be the lot of the 
justified. The departed were called the living, and the sarcoph- 
agus enclosing their mortal remains was called the "Lord of 
Life," owing to their belief in a future resurrection as distinctly 
taught in the Book of the Dead, called by the famous Egyptolo- 
gist Champollion the Funeral Ritual. 

Moreover, the idea of a future judgment for all men was a 
cardinal point in the Egyptian conception of a future life. 
This imparted to it a distinctly moral aspect, springing from the 
thought that the soul had a retributive future before it, which 
depended on the tenor of its mortal life. 

Hence their belief in immortality, and in the judgment to 
come, exercised a strong and healthy influence on the life of 
the people ; an influence which was, in the course of time, unfor- 
tunately neutralized, in a marked degree, by the introduction of 
animal worship and magical rites, that greatly contributed to 
rob the doctrine of immortality of its moral energy. 17 



CHAPTER XV 

RELIGIOUS BELIEF OF ANCIENT ASSYRIA AND 
BABYLON 

287. We treat of both in this same chapter, as Orientalist his- 
torians tell us that their religious belief and worship were prac- 
tically identical. 

Among works on this subject by Catholic Assyriologists, that 
of Paul Del'homme, O. P., Orientalist Professor at the Catholic 
Institute of Paris, holds the foremost place. It fully covers the 
ground of our thesis, as is shown by its perusal. We here allege 
only a few passages: 

"The multiplicity of divinities worshiped by the people of the 
two ancient monarchies, Assyria and Babylon, was no obstacle 

17 See The Christian Doctrine of Immortality, by Stewart D. F. Salmond, 
M.A. Book I — The Ethnic Preparation, pp. 37-61. 



176 Proofs of the Immortality 

to their belief in one Supreme Deity, called Marduk in Babylon 
and Asour in Assyria. ' ' x 

"With reference to the moral law governing those ancient 
peoples in their several obligations toward the Deity, themselves, 
and their fellow-men, it is important to notice what was their 
conception or idea of sin, and how it was to be cancelled. The 
law, they held, comes from the gods, justice comes from heaven, 
human duties are imposed by divine precepts. Sin, therefore, 
is the transgression of the law, the violation of justice, the 
breaking of the divine commands. All that is sinful provokes 
the anger of the gods, who must be appeased by sorrow and 
prayer. ' ' 2 

"Among the consequences of sin they reckoned the with- 
drawal of divine protection from the offenders, the enmity of the 
evil spirits, sickness of the body, anguish of the soul, and other 
calamities. ' ' 3 

A very complete collection of maxims and principles regarding 
the belief of the ancient nations of Assyria and Babylon in fu- 
ture life and future retribution has been published by the 
same distinguished author. 

Very valuable and interesting information on the matter that 
concerns us can be gathered from the perusal of "Babylonian 
Religion" by Professor S. W. King, attached to the Oriental De- 
partment of the British Museum. 

288. We close our account by quoting the following conclud- 
ing remarks by Father A. Condamin, S. J., in his lecture on 
Babylonia and Assyria: 

"We have seen that in Babylonian literature, which represents 
the religious thought of so many generations, not all is moral 
perversion and superstition; far from it. We cannot but ad- 
mire the multitude of sublime religious and moral ideas clad in 
a vesture of splendid poetry. Through the tangle of polytheis- 
tic and mythical imaginings is described a God who is the 
Creator and Governor of the universe, who punishes and par- 
dons sins, with whom man enters into communication by prayer. 
The obligation of the moral law, the sense of guilt from sins 
committed, the inevitable retribution are affirmed in a multi- 
tude of texts. By the side of truths perceived by the natural 
power of reason, some faint traces of primitive revelation may 
have subsisted through the centuries. And God, when He gave 
to the elect people the privilege of revelation, did not leave the 
other peoples altogether without light or help. He could not 
indeed exclude them from His providence in the natural order. 
Neither did He wish to refuse to them absolutely and wholly 
that supernatural grace which should help them to live well and 
reach their supreme end. ' ' 4 

i The Assyro-Babvlonian Religion, by Paul Del'homme, 0. P. Paris, 
1910, pp. 141, 142. * 2 Ibid pp. 231-233. 3 Ibid. p. 234. 

* Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 30-31. 



Of the Human Soul 177 



CHAPTER XVI 

RELIGIOUS THOUGHTS OF THE ANCIENT PERSIANS, 

THE HINDUS, THE MEDES, THE CHINESE, THE 

JAPANESE, AND THE ARABS 

THE PERSIANS 

289. For an authoritative statement of their religious belief 
we are indebted to a communication imparted to Mr. Auguste 
Nicolas by his friend, the celebrated Oriental scholar, Felix 
Lajard. It is dated from Paris, May 5, 1850. Here is in brief 
the result of his investigation whilst traveling in Persia : 

The religion of the Persians admitted the existence of one 
Supreme Being, invisible, incomprehensible, eternal; that is, 
without beginning or end. They believed in the immortality 
of man's soul, in a future life, in reward or punishment, and in 
the three kinds of purity needed to be worthy of a recompense ; 
that is, purity in thought, word, and action. And when, in ful- 
filment of the prophecy of Jeremias after seventy years' cap- 
tivity, 1 the Lord inspired Cyrus, the Persian king, to deliver the 
Jews from captivity, and have them rebuild Solomon's temple, 
destroyed by Nabuchodonosor, he proclaimed the decree of de- 
liverance in the following thoroughly religious language, re- 
corded in 1 Esdras i. 2: "Thus saith Cyrus, king of the 
Persians: The Lord, the God of heaven, hath given to me all 
the kingdoms of the earth, and He hath charged me to build Him 
a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judea. ' ' 

290. "We see moreover some special designs of Divine Provi- 
dence over the Persian nation manifested in the striking fact 
that, as tradition testifies, the Magi, called by the miraculous 
star to the cradle of the world's Saviour, were inhabitants of 
the Persian kingdom. 2 

291. In perusing the record of the ancient Persians we come 
upon another great type of belief. It is one of the highest and 
purest of the old Ethnic religions. It is a faith with a singularly 
clear and decisive doctrine of future retribution, and with a pro- 
found conception of right and wrong, good and guilt. It is the 
faith of a people whose historical connections, both with Jew 
and with Greek, were such as to give rise to the presumption of 
a mutual communication of ideas. As we gather from their 
ancient monuments, after a man's death the reckoning of his 
life is taken. The conscience of each man confronts him. The 
good thoughts, words, and deeds of the man of truth appear 
in the form of a fair maiden of glorious race ; for the man of 

i Jer. xxix. 10; Dan. ix. 2. 

2 Etudes Philosophiques sur le Christianisme par Auguste Nicolas, vol. 
ii. pp. 499 et seq. 



I 78 Proofs of the Immortality 

falsehood there is a corresponding deformed apparition signify, 
ing the evil things of his earthly life. Three destinies lie before 
the man. If the good in him prevails over the evil, his way is 
to paradise, the abode of song, which is the dwelling-place of the 
deity Abura-Mazda. If the evil is judged to prevail, he sinks 
into the abyss tenanted by the spirits of evil, down into the 
darkness, into the world of woe, the dismal realm, down into the 
house of hell, there to suffer the pains of his sins. 

If the balance is equal and the judgment indetermined, there 
is an intermediate state, in which he is detained till the decision 
of the last day. 

The religion of the Persians, however, was a religion of hope. 
One of its greatest ideas was that of a new era, and a new world. 
It looked for the end of the present world, with all its evils, and 
the establishment of the desired kingdom. It spoke too of a 
universal judgment to be held by Abura-Mazda when there will 
be the casting of the spirit of evil, and of all the wicked into 
hell, and the reception of the good into the fellowship of the 
God of light and peace into the happiness of the kingdom, in 
which the sun shines forever. 3 

THE HINDUS 

292. As far back as our records carry us, according to Cantu, 
the Hindu is seen to be a believer in an after-existence. The one 
certain fact is that, ten to fifteen centuries before Christ, the Hin- 
dus looked for a future existence. They entertained the idea of 
a retributive future. There is a life of happiness, a realm of 
light in the presence of the gods, for the good ; and there is an 
abyss, a nethermost darkness, for the evil. 

Their belief in the future existence is cheerful and hopeful, 
expressive of a joy in life, and a desire for life. There is no 
hint of the wish to be rid of the burden of existence ; no sugges- 
tion of the previous life of the soul, or of the rebirth of the soul 
in the body of man or beast. The Veda (the Sacred Book or 
Bible of the Hindus) in its marvelous hymns has nothing to say 
of transmigration, or any dread cycle of births and deaths, 
which some misinformed historians wrongly attributed to the 
Hindu belief. At least such erroneous belief has never been 
either general or permanent in the Hindu race. 

The life in the after-world is characterized as determined by 
the tenor of the present. It has its certain rewards and punish- 
ments, and the man is said to enter, at death, a world which he 
has made for himself. These rewards and punishments were the 
things that held the Indian mind. For the wicked man there 
was the dread of those hells, whose penalties are so prolonged as 
to be incalculable. For the righteous man there was the hope 

3 See The Christian Doctrine of Immortality, by Stewart D. F. Salmond, 
M.A. Book I. — The Ethnic Preparation, pp. 78-94. 



Of the Human Soul 179 

of the delights of heaven, which, though they might not be the 
highest possible, yet they were delightful enough. 

We see, therefore, prevailing among this ancient Hindu race 
a pronounced doctrine of future retribution, and for the wicked 
a terrible one. 

The same writer has this to say concerning the natives of Hin- 
dustan : " As by reason of their antiquity they were nearest to 
the primitive and patriarchal traditions, the Hindus preserved 
many religious and moral truths, such as the unity of God, the 
fall of man, and the expectation of a coming Repairer or Re- 
deemer. The conviction of the soul 's immortality exerted among 
the Hindu population such an influence as to pervade all their 
thoughts and sentiments, and dominate their whole life. ' ' 4 

THE MEDES 

"They, like all ancient nations, were strong believers in the 
immortality of man 's soul. They moreover held that after death 
the wicked will fall into a dread abyss, where they are confined 
for ever, and that the good enter the golden portals of heaven." 5 

THE CHINESE 

The Dublin Review (July, 1884) speaks as follows: "Some 
writers assert that the Chinese were, in their earliest periods, 
materialistic and atheistic. But the eminent Orientalist scholar, 
Charles de Harlez, has attentively examined this question and 
clearly shown from historical portions of the writings of Con- 
fucius, and from the oldest annalists that the primitive religion 
of the Chinese was more pure than that of any other nation out- 
side of Judea. We may conclude, then, in the words of the 
Rev. Garret Horner, that the people or tribe has yet to be discov- 
ered, which has no belief in God, and the permanent existence 
of the human soul after death." 

THE JAPANESE 

The Shinto priests of Japan taught the people the soul's sur- 
vival after death and the doctrine of future retribution. 6 

THE ARABS 

Boulainvilliers, a French author, writes as follows: i( These 
people, trusting the traditions of their forefathers, preserved 
the memory of the creation and fall of man, believed in the Su- 
preme Lord of the universe, in their accountability to Him and 
feared His judgments. ' ' 7 

In confirmation of the truths established by the preceding au- 

*Cantu, Universal History, vol. i. 

5 Meagher, Rev. Jas. L., The Religions of the World. 

g Rev. J. L. Meagher loc. cit. See n. 524 for testimony of St. Francis 
Xavier on the same subject. 7 Vie de Mahomet, 1 ii, p. 191. 



180 Proofs of the Immortality 

thorities we add the statements of two comparatively recent 
French writers. 

De Broglie : ' ' Af ter the discovery of Oriental philology made 
known to us the history of many ancient nations, and the mis- 
sionaries and explorers have overrun every portion of our 
globe in all directions, no one, I think, who respects himself, will 
henceforth attempt to hold that there exists now, Or has existed 
in the remote past, any people entirely destitute of religious be- 
lief. But it may be safely maintained that, if we except the 
ancient Hebrews, no nation of antiquity has given a brighter evi- 
dence of a firm belief in a supernatural world than the Egyp- 
tians. In spite of many grotesque notions, the leading master- 
truths, such as the existence of a Supreme Deity, the soul's im- 
mortality, and future retribution held the foremost place. ' ' 8 

De Quatrefages, an eminent ethnologist, after reviewing the 
records of all ancient nations, concludes as follows: "We look 
in vain for any people of antiquity that did not profess some 
kind of belief in man's future existence, and retribution. 

''Thus, to allege one instance out of many that might be ad- 
duced, the Egyptians held, as attested by their writings and mon- 
uments still preserved, that the human soul is immortal, and that 
in the after life rewards await the just and punishments the 
wicked." ° 

For an exhaustive and critical treatment of this subject; 
namely, the religious and moral tenets entertained by all the 
nations of antiquity, we know no better work than the "Uni- 
versal History" of Cantu translated from the Italian original 
into several modern languages. See particularly volume I. 

An author that cannot be suspected of partiality toward the 
Christian religion makes this general admission: 

"The ancient Hebrews," writes Voltaire, "and, after them 
the Chaldeans, the Assyrians, the Egyptians, believed in the 
soul's survival after death and the same belief we find among 
the Greeks, the Romans, in short, among all the nations of the 
earth." 10 

Frederick von Schlegel, a convert to Catholicism, makes this 
appreciation of the value and trustworthiness of the foregoing 
testimonies : 

"We must, in the first place, remember and keep well in our 
minds that among the nations of antiquity the doctrine of the 
immortality of the soul was not a mere probable hypothesis, 
which, as with many moderns, needs laborious researches and 
diffuse argumentations in order to produce conviction on the 
mind. Nay, we can hardly give the name of faith to this primi- 
tive conception, for it was a lively certainty, like the feeling of 
one 's own being, and of what is actually present ; and this firm 

3 Problemes sur l'Histoire des Religions. 

» Quoted by Auguste Nicolas in his Etudes Philosophiques. 

i° Lettres de quelques Juifs. 



Of the Human Soul 181 

belief in a future existence exerted its influence on all sublu- 
nary affairs, and was often the motive of mightier deeds and 
enterprises than any mere earthly interest could inspire. ' ' 1X 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE IMMORTALITY OF MAN'S SOUL PROVED FROM 
THE GENERAL CONSENT OF MANKIND 

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS 

293. With a view to exhibit the value of the argument drawn 
from the general consent of mankind, we prefix to our discus- 
sion the following remarks: 

The general consent of men, if furnished with certain quali- 
ties or conditions, can produce a moral certitude of the truths 
to which it testifies. If men of different countries, language, 
education, and social habits agree on some definite belief, it must 
be said that they represent the voice of nature. Hence the say- 
ings of Cicero, ''The consent of all nations must be held as the 
voice of nature, ' ' * and ' ' That on which all men are agreed must 
be true. ' ' 2 Another Roman philosopher, L. Annseus Seneca 
(a. d. 65), bears witness to the same truth, for he thus speaks of 
the value of universal consent: "We are wont to give great 
weight to what all men are agreed upon; and with us it is an 
argument of truth that a thing seems true to all. ' ' 3 The fol- 
lowing conditions are required to render the judgments of the 
human race acceptable as channels of truth. 

1. They must be long standing, constant, and common among 
different nations and peoples. 

2. The progress of science must have confirmed and ratified, 
instead of disproving and abolishing them. 

3. They must not have originated from ignorance, prejudice, 
superstition, moral corruption and other similar causes of error 
and deception. 

4. They must not be in conflict with other principles of right 
reason. 

5. They must be conducive to sound morality. 
Judgments, beliefs, and truths which are in conformity with 

the preceding conditions, cannot be erroneous ; and such are the 
judgments testifying to the truth of the soul's immortality. 
They must have sprung from the light of reason, or from some 
primitive tradition spread among the nation^,. Here is a ques- 
tion of an effect that is general, common, constant, and uniform, 
which consequently demands the action of a cause that is like- 

ii Philosophy of History, Lecture IV, p. 156. * Tusc. Disp. 1. i, e. xv. 

2De Natura Deorum 1. i, n. xvii. s Epist. 117. 



182 Proofs of the Immortality 

wise general, common, constant, and uniform, and that is the 
light of reason possessed by all rational creatures. 

If we could not rely on such testimony, then it would follow 
that reason itself is an intrinsic and unavoidable source of error, 
an assertion highly injurious to God, the Sovereign Creator, 
from whom men receive the gift of reason as a guide to truth. 
All logicians are agreed on this point. Among the truths treas- 
ured up in the conscience of mankind we find their conviction of 
the soul's survival after death and the belief in future retribu- 
tion both to the just and to the wicked. 

The immortality of the human soul, as we have observed, has 
always been the universal belief of mankind, a fact admitted by 
even the bitterest enemies of Christianity. To refer now only 
to the nations of antiquity, it was the belief of the Egyptians, 
the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Hindus, the 
Chinese ; of the Greeks, the Romans, the peoples of Thracia, the 
ancient Gauls, the early Germans, the Sarmatians, the Scythians, 
the Britons, and, in less remote epochs, the same belief was held 
by the indigenous tribes of South, North and Central America; 
in short, it was practically the doctrine of all nations received 
from a primitive tradition. 

They also unanimously believed that the soul after death un- 
dergoes a judgment, followed by the result of its verdict, which 
will be either eternal happiness or eternal punishment. They 
likewise admit the existence of an intermediate state, a veritable 
purgatory, as Voltaire and Warburton frankly testify. The 
Egyptians used to place in the mouth of the dead a prayer, 
by which they asked to be received into the abode of the immor- 
tals. 4 

From the beginning men believed that life does not end with 
death. The belief was not peculiar to any tribe or clan, nor was 
it confined to one or other quarter of our globe. It was general 
and ubiquitous. Wherever early man has left legible traces of 
his existence, whether in the hieroglyphics of the Egyptian, or 
in cuneiform characters indelibly impressed on baked bricks by 
the Assyrian, he there left enduring evidence of his belief in a 
life after death. Primeval divine tradition, handed down from 
the remotest patriarchal ancestors, explains how man came into 
this belief, and accounts both for its uniformity and universality. 
And though this belief was at times mingled with a mass of 
crude superstitions and grotesque ideas, yet it held its ground; 
and while many of those silly notions have passed away, it still 
survives. This undeniable fact shows that the primitive con- 
viction, that man is alive on the other side of the grave, is still a 
possession of the human race. Arguments cannot destroy it: 
the skepticism of the learned does not cause it to wilt: the un- 

* See Bergier's Dictionnaire Theologique, vol. i. p. 494 for additional 
testimonies. 



Of the Human Soul 183 

belief of the elite is only a passing cloud. We may, then, safely 
conclude that so vital and permanent a phenomenon cannot be 
due to chance. It is one of the many means employed by Divine 
Providence for both the temporal and the eternal welfare of 
man. 

294. What has been here asserted in general terms, was demon- 
strated in detail by the renowned historian Fliigel, who, in the 
course of his inquiries into the remote past, alleges undeniable 
testimonies from every nation of the globe on their religious be- 
lief and moral tenets. 5 

Father Cathrein, S. J., in his notable work on Ethnology, 
among the religious beliefs and moral sentiments of mankind 
reckons the following: 

The existence of a Supreme Being and Ruler of the universe ; 
the endless life of the human soul; man's accountability to an 
invisible, omnipotent Judge; the knowledge of the difference or 
distinction between good and evil; a future recompense to the 
just and a future punishment to the wicked. 

As the conditions needed to render the general consent of man- 
kind reliable as a witness to truth are here fully verified, no fair 
minded man can reject such a unanimous testimony in behalf 
of the religious beliefs and moral sentiments stated above as pre- 
vailing throughout the populations of the human race, both an- 
cient and modern. 

295. Old poets, particularly the Greek and the Latin bards, 
as well as many ancient sages, are deservedly looked upon as 
witnesses and guardians of many traditional religious beliefs and 
moral truths. 

By embodying in their classic songs the master moral princi- 
ples and maxims scattered among their people and received from 
their remote ancestors, they succeeded in counteracting, to a 
great extent, the several forms of atheism which threatened to 
become everywhere prevalent and root out from the human race 
every vestige of virtue and belief in the Creator and Ruler of 
the universe. 

The primitive traditions on the unity of God, and other princi- 
pal attributes of the Deity, such as omniscience, goodness, omnip- 
otence, justice; on the immortality of the soul, on retribution 
after death, on eternal reward or punishments; on the sinful- 
ness of man, on the necessity of expiation, on the expectation of 
a Divine Redeemer, all these highly beneficial truths became the 
heirloom of the nations of Europe, as they had been previously 
of Egypt, Hindustan, and other Asiatic and African regions. 
Oriental scholars and historians hold that the Mosaic record 
and other sacred books brought by the exiled Hebrews to Baby- 
lonia, Persia, Chaldea, Egypt, and other countries, greatly con- 
tributed to confirm the aforementioned traditions and preserve 

s See Thein's Christian Anthropology. 



184 Proofs of the Immortality 

them from the erroneous ideas and moral corruptions derived 
from heathen origin and mythological religions. 

The late Rev. Henry Formby in the following two works 
*| Monotheism, the Primitive Religion of the City of Rome" and 
"Ancient Rome and Its Connection with the Christian Re- 
ligion," brings forward ample evidence to prove that the asso- 
ciation of the ancient Romans with the Hebrews exerted a salu- 
tary influence on monotheistic belief and helped to preserve it 
from erroneous admixtures. 

The "Biographical Dictionary of English Catholics" says of 
Formby 's historical works that they are full of wisdom, learning 
and the result of deep research. 6 



CHAPTER XVIII 

TESTIMONIES OF ANCIENT WRITERS 

296. Among philosophers, Pythagoras, Plato, Plutarch and 
their numerous disciples influenced in a remarkable degree the 
spreading and preservation of the traditional truths previously 
referred to, owing to the high reputation they had attained as 
moral teachers, though their teachings were not exempt from 
several ethical errors. 

Yet, as Gladstone remarks in his "Homeric Studies," the 
primitive brightness of traditional truths gradually grew dim- 
mer, and error, fostered by moral corruption, became more and 
more prevalent, so that, according to him, the further back our 
researches extend in antiquity, the more pure do we find the 
belief of mankind. It is, therefore, a huge historical error to 
assert that the religion of the most ancient races was polytheis- 
tic. The opposite view is the true one, as competent historians of 
different nationalities have proved. See in this connection the 
following articles by the distinguished reviewer, Orestes Brown- 
son: "Primitive Man," vol. ix. p. 318; "Primeval Man Not a 
Savage," vol. ix. 457; "Christianity and Heathenism," vol. x. 
p. 357. 

Among the highly cultured Greeks and Romans, as shown in 
their writings, we find not only an explicit belief in a continued 
existence of man's soul, but also the conviction that there will 
be in the future world a just retribution, an abode of bliss for 
the good and a place of punishment for the wicked. 

Plato writes in one of his Dialogues : 

"Glaucon, do you not know that your soul is immortal and 
never dies?" 

' ' Can you prove it ? " 

6 Vol. vi. p. 309. 



Of the Human Soul 185 

' ' Certainly — you also can prove it, for it is easily done. ' ' 1 

In the same book, Socrates, one of the interlocutors, thus 
speaks against annihilation: "As the soul cannot be destroyed 
either by itself or by others, it will exist forever, and is there- 
fore immortal. ' ' 2 

In his Gorgias (page 343 of the same edition) he writes: "It 
is absolutely necessary that he who does what is right should 
become happy and contented ; and that he who does wrong should 
become miserable." 

To prove the soul's immortality, besides other telling argu- 
ments scattered throughout his works, he urges as an evidence 
the necessity of retributive justice, and a future existence for 
an adequate reward of the good, and an equitable chastisement 
of the wicked. See Patuzzi, De Futuro Impiorum Statu, Second 
Edition, p. 48, where he reproduces the same argument from his 
distinguished disciple, Aristotle. 

Plutarch: "I certainly never denied the perpetual future 
existence of the human soul. "...*' The present life is a kind of 
battlefield, and when the fighting is over the combatants receive 
what they deserved." 

In his essay entitled, "The Tardy Vengeance of the Deity," 
vol. iii. pp. 677, 678, Paris Edition quoted above, he accounts 
for the fact that sometime vengeance, that is, chastisement, does 
not overtake the guilty immediately after the commission of 
crime, saying that the Deity is not afraid that they will escape 
from its hands. 3 

Diodorus Siculus thus speaks of the ancient Egyptians: 
"Those that have cultivated piety toward the gods, and prac- 
tised justice, continence, and other virtues, are received into the 
company of the good, and remain forever with them. ' ' 4 

Strabo: This most ancient geographer and historian says of 
the Bramins, that they adhered to the doctrine of Plato on Im- 
mortality and future retribution. 5 

Marcus Tullius Cicero : This most famous orator and philoso- 
pher of Republican Rome reasons thus in his Tusculan Disputa- 
tions (1. i, ch. 27) : "We can find no origin of human souls on 
earth, for here we can find nothing that has the power of mem- 
ory, and of mind : a power that can remember the past, foresee 
the future, and embrace the present ; a mind which can be traced 
only to a divine source. Hence such marvelous endowments 
must have come to man only from the Deity. Therefore, what- 
ever be that which feels, acts, and lives, it must have a heavenly 
and divine origin, and for that reason it must last for eternity." 

In the same book (ch. 16), he writes: "We believe, owing 
to the consent of all nations, that human souls are immortal, that 

i De Civitate, vol. ii. p. 186. Paris, 1883. Firmin-Didot Edition. 

2 Ibid. p. 186. 3 Patuzzi, p. 24. 4 Hist. 1, I, n. g. I, Edition as above. 

s Geogr. lib. xv. India, vol. i. p. 607. Edition as above. 



186 Proofs of the Immortality 

is, possessing a permanent life." Cicero was the only Roman 
that undertook to base a real and individual existence of souls 
after death on philosophical grounds. 

AnnaBus Lucanus, in the ninth book of his heroic poem, Phar- 
salia, speaks of the destiny of a righteous soul, whose body was 
burned on the funeral-pyre: "His soul was not laid in ashes 
at Pharo, nor could a little handful of dust contain so great a 
shade. It leaped from the pyre, and leaving the remnant of 
half-burned bones, sprung toward the vaulted throne of the 
Thunderer. There dwell the sainted manes, the departed souls 
gathered in the eternal mansions." 

Viscount Bolingbroke thus speaks of the authority of the an- 
cient testimonies quoted above : ' ' The doctrine of the immortal- 
ity of the soul and of a future state of reward, or punishment, 
which seemed to be lost in the darkness of antiquity, yet is found 
to pervade all that we know with certainty. From the moment 
that we begin to boil down the chaotic legends of ancient his- 
tory, we find that belief established on the most solid foundations 
in the minds of the primitive nations known to us. ' ' 6 



CHAPTER XIX 

DEMONSTRATION OF THE VALUE OF THE GENERAL 
CONSENT OF THE HUMAN RACE AS AN EVI- 
DENCE AND CRITERION OF TRUTH 

297. Among the most precious and morally beneficial truths 
possessed by mankind from the very dawn of its existence, even 
to our own day, after that of the existence of God, there is per- 
haps none that has been held more unanimously than that of 
the immortality of man's soul. Rev. John Thein in his "Chris- 
tian Anthropology" (chapter xviii), discusses this subject in 
a masterly way and vigorously refutes the contrary assertion of 
the materialistic unbelievers of both past and present time. By 
way of introduction I quote from Maury the following words: 
"It is absurd to be obliged to prove to-day that among all races 
of man of all ages, with a few insignificant exceptions, there ex- 
ists a unanimous belief that the life of man continues after 
death." Toward the end of last century, Gustav Flugel, a 
German savant of high repute, quoted above, proved this truth 
in a most convincing manner by examining the creeds, customs, 
funeral rites, and traditions of all the races of mankind. In his 
learned volume, the result of his long and diligent researches, he 
proved the general belief in the future, permanent existence of 

e See Bergier, Dictionnaire Theologique, vol. i. p. 499, note. Quoted by 
Urraburu, vol. v. 



Of the- Human Soul 187 

man 's soul as held by the Hebrews, the Egyptians, the Assyrians, 
the Persians, the Hindus, the Etruscans, the Phoenicians, the 
Greeks, the Romans and other nations of olden times. 

All scholars interested in ethnological studies will no doubt 
be highly pleased to learn that what the historian Gustav Fliigel 
did last century regarding the nations of antiquity, another 
no less learned German scholar has done concerning all the 
human races, and tribes of our own times. 

298. I refer to Father Victor Cathrein, S. J., who lately pub- 
lished in the German language a work entitled ' ' The Unity of the 
Moral Consciousness of the Human Race. ' ' This standard work 
comprises three massive volumes. The first deals with the civi- 
lized peoples of Europe and the uncivilized tribes of Europe, 
Asia, and northern Africa. The second passes in review the 
barbaric and savage tribes of South Africa, and North America. 
The third treats of the savage tribes of South America, Aus- 
tralia, and Oceanica. His statements about the cultured na- 
tions of Europe apply to all the civilized populations of other 
parts of the globe, such as North and South America, and the 
cultured portion of Asia and Australia. He institutes a thor- 
ough inquiry into their religious beliefs and moral sentiments, 
utilizing all the available and reliable sources of information. 
He shows their possession of such truths as the following : 

Belief in God, in man's endless life in a future world, in the 
distinction between good and evil actions, in a future retribu- 
tion of both the just and the wicked, in the voice of conscience 
revealing the existence of a binding, superior law and in simi- 
lar other moral judgments. 

This most valuable work, a masterpiece in its line, is pub- 
lished by B. Herder of St. Louis, and was reviewed by the able 
journalist, Arthur Preuss, in his Fortnightly Review for August 
15, 1915, p. 48. An English translation of this monumental 
production would form a most valuable contribution to the 
science of ethnology for English-speaking countries. 

299. Here some inquisitive reader may ask: Whence comes 
this wonderful consent of mankind in admitting practically the 
same religious belief and moral principles? Catholic writers 
generally answer as follows : Either it is a universal tradition, 
coming down from one and the same primeval divine revelation, 
or it is the testimony of nature, the voice of conscience, which 
is found to speak the identically same language, and whose ver- 
dict, uniform in character, permanent in duration, and uni- 
versal in its scope and extent, constitutes a safe warrant of the 
truth it conveys; for such a testimony, ultimately traceable to 
God, eternal truth, cannot bear witness to falsehood. 1 

It may be safely held that both the promptings of reason and 
the spread of primitive tradition combine in accounting for the 

i See Urraburu, Logida, vol. i. p. 630; and Psychologia, vol. vi. p. 544. 



188 Proofs of the Immortality 

marvelous unanimity of mankind's belief in religious and moral 
truths, as it will be fully proved further on. 

300. We may greatly strengthen our argument by recalling 
the views of a recent writer, George Fell, S. J., who, in his very 
valuable treatise on the immortality of the soul, alleges as a 
forcible proof of his thesis the universal testimony of mankind. 
"We must be able," he writes, "to show that the whole human 
race as such, notwithstanding many aberrations, always believed 
in a future life. If we are able to do this, the universal testi- 
mony of the human race becomes so overwhelming and decisive 
a proof for immortality that only fools and bigots will refuse 
to accept it. Such a testimony of the whole human race is really 
at hand. It is evidently not necessary for us to go the rounds 
of the earth with our own reason to collect the testimonies of in- 
dividual peoples." Father Joseph Knabenbauer, S. J., has 
done this in his excellent treatise, ' ' The Testimony of the Human 
Race for the Immortality of the Soul." (Supplement to the 
Stimmen aus Maria Laach, February, 1896.) 

The mighty task, then, of ascertaining from reliable sources 
and authentic documents the beliefs and moral sentiments of 
mankind from the first dawn of man's history even to our times, 
has been thoroughly accomplished by the untiring labors and in- 
dustry of the three German scholars we referred to — Fliigel, 
Knabenbauer, and Cathrein, the two former bearing witness for 
the nations of antiquity, and the last testifying in behalf of 
modern peoples. 

To reject such overpowering testimony in favor of the immor- 
tality of man's soul can be rightly looked upon and branded 
as one of the most irrational acts an individual can commit. 

We find traces of this belief among all the nations, without 
exception. As Father Knabenbauer remarks, the Nirvana of the 
Buddhists' creed does not mean, as some writers falsely assert, 
their credence in the vanishing annihilation of the soul, but 
rather the reaching of its highest perfection. Future annihila- 
tion, held by some authors to be a cardinal doctrine of Buddhism, 
is by the vast majority of the disciples of that creed understood 
to be not a return to absolute nothing, but an ecstatic state of 
perfect contemplation. 2 

301. The following argument is advanced against the proof 
of the soul's immortality drawn from universal consent: Have 
there not been at all times in all places, individuals, philoso- 
phers, poets and other writers, who denied, or at least doubted, 
the fact of any future existence? And are not such people to 
be found in our own days ? 

Answer: That some individuals may strive to drown their 
convictions about future life, in order to be left undisturbed in 
their riotings and debaucheries, we freely admit. But does 

2 See Maher's Psychology, p. 533, 541. 



Of the Human Soul 189 

not so unworthy a motive authorize us to suspect the sincerity 
of their assertions ? May they be said to be impartial judges in 
a matter of such vital importance ? Men blinded by passion and 
swayed by pride may deny even the most evident facts and 
truths. Not so very long ago there were philosophical schools 
in Germany that denied the objective reality of the whole visible 
world. Should this be a reason for asserting that a doctrine so 
absurd is true, though contradicted by the overwhelming ma- 
jority of mankind? Or would it be right for a future historian 
to say that the reality of the visible world was a matter of 
doubt among the Germans in the twentieth century, because 
some of their mentally muddled so-called philosophers had held 
and taught that absurd system? 

302. Moreover, as sad experience tells us, through the influ- 
ence of a wayward will on the intellect men may be induced to 
deny certain truths which, far from flattering human passions, 
are intended to curb them. Voluptuous men, for instance, can 
find much interest in rejecting immortality and its inevi- 
table sequel, future retribution. For that truth is not a mere 
idle theory, but a belief fraught with consequences of the high- 
est moment. In fact, if I am immortal, an everlasting retribu- 
tion awaits me, a future lot, the character of which, whether 
good or bad, depends entirely on the tenor of my present life. 
Pascal, the great French mathematician and thinker, said that 
if some of the commandments, such as the sixth, were simply 
mathematical theorems, instead of being stern moral injunc- 
tions, no carnally bent unbeliever would ever combat Christian 
morality. As to the wrong conceptions concerning the charac- 
ter of forthcoming retribution entertained by ancient pagan 
sages, and by some savage tribes of more recent times, they 
furnish no proof against their belief in a future endless exist- 
ence, for they were indeed mistaken concerning the true nature 
of the soul, and its mode of existence in the next world, but they 
were substantially correct as to the fact of the endless existence 
of man's soul and its retribution in the life to come. 

Thus I was told by the Catholic missionaries of the Rocky 
Mountains that their Indian converts were very agreeably sur- 
prised when they learned from the black gowns (the priests) 
that in heaven the good Indians would find something better 
than plenty of buffaloes and deer for the hunters and that they 
would live peacefully with the white man. 

He that attempts to rob mankind of belief in immortality 
sets at defiance the conviction of the whole human race. With- 
out immortality man's high dignity and mental superiority 
would vanish, and he would be degraded to the level of the 
beast. His undeniable aspirations to perfect, lasting happiness 
would be cruel mockery, and his whole life would become a maze 
of insoluble and inexplicable contradictions. But, on the con- 



190 Proofs of the Immortality 

trary, if his present life be but a passing, brief period of proba- 
tion, to be followed by a future state, where the infinitely good 
and just God will apportion to all the reward due to their deeds, 
then all difficulties disappear, and we have a rational solution of 
the problem of human existence. 

At all events, in our times, in the full brilliancy of Gospel 
light, we hardly need the testimony of mankind to convince us of 
the great truths concerning our soul, its origin, destiny, accounta- 
bility, and future interminable existence, for, as St. Peter as- 
sures us, "We have the more firm prophetical word," 3 that is, 
the teachings of the Son of God, and, we add, the authority of 
His infallible Church to interpret them. 



CHAPTER XX 

ATTITUDE OP MODERN SCIENTIFIC MEN TOWARD 

THE DOCTRINE OF IMMORTALITY AND 

FUTURE RETRIBUTION 

PRELIMINARY STATEMENT 

303. In the course of my somewhat extensive reading, necessi- 
tated by the character of this work, I came across certain star- 
tling assertions which I deem it highly important to refute be- 
fore proceeding any further. 

Some of our opponents claim that it is useless to appeal to 
the authority of ancient poets, sages, philosophers, and historians 
as witnesses to the truth of the immortality of man 's soul and the 
existence of future, endless retribution, and this, they tell us, 
for the following reason : 

The scientific men of the last two or three centuries have dis- 
covered an irreconcilable opposition between the well estab- 
lished data of science and the teachings of Christian philosophy, 
borrowed, they say, from what is called divine revelation. 

Hence, as modern science has done away with the old absurd 
belief of the four elements, earth, air, fire, and water, and with 
the inextricable Ptolemaic astronomy, with its tangling cycles 
and epicycles, firmly held by the ancients, as well as by the 
schoolmen of the Middle Ages, so it has demonstrated as abso- 
lutely untenable other teachings handed down from antiquity, 
such as those concerning the origin, nature, and duration of the 
human soul, and the assumed existence of a hereafter. On this 
account, our adversaries maintain, most of the scientific men of 
the last two or three centuries have adhered to the more ra- 
tional doctrine of materialism and ceased to believe in Chris- 
tianity and its heaven and hell. 

3 2 Peter i. 19. 



Of the Human Soul 191 

In this connection I well remember what the materialist Biich- 
ner said in his work, "Force and Matter," "three scientists, two 
atheists." By this bold assertion he meant to convey the im- 
pression that many tenets of Christian philosophy and divine 
revelation have been utterly discredited, and disproved by the 
discoveries and progress of modern scientific research. 

There exists in our days a certain class of writers, who, an- 
nouncing themselves as champions of science, proclaim in its 
name and in its authority the irreparable defeat of the old 
scholastic philosophy, nay, of Christianity itself. Scientific dis- 
coveries, we are assured, have undermined the very foundations 
of religion, such as belief in the existence of God, in the existence 
of a spiritual, immortal soul, and the like. In short, we must 
either renounce religion altogether or cast about for a new form 
of it, more in harmony with the results of the modern interpre- 
tation of nature. 

304. In the first place, all these assumptions of the supposed 
achievements and destructive influence of modern scientists are 
based on two utterly false principles. The first is that philosoph- 
ical truths belong to the domain of natural, physical science, 
whilst they constitute the proper object of mental or metaphys- 
ical investigations. The second erroneous principle is that the 
dogmas and truths of religion are to be proved or disproved by 
empirical or experimental methods, while they can be demon- 
strated only by appealing to the authority of the Sovereign Crea- 
tor who revealed them, and to that of the Church which He has 
appointed to interpret them, a point fully discussed in Part VI, 
Chapter I. 

As to the philosophical truth of the immortality of the human 
soul, contemporary history relates the utter discomfiture met 
with by two celebrated men of science, the English professor, 
John Tyndall, and the renowned American inventor, Thomas A. 
Edison. Venturing beyond their competent sphere, they both 
rejected the soul's immortality on the plea of its being opposed 
to modern science. It is interesting to know the result. At the 
meeting of the British Association at Belfast in 1874, Tyndall 
used the presidential chair as a pulpit of materialism; but one 
had to go no further than his audience to find a man like Max- 
well, at least his equal in science, who absolutely rejected his 
manifesto and dismissed it in a set of doggerel verses. 

305. A few years ago the newspapers announced that Mr. 
Edison had declared himself a materialist. How did this come 
about ? He had satisfied himself that the physico-chemical forces 
at work in the brain, with the resultant electrical effects, were 
sufficient to account for all the phenomena of conscious life in 
men. This was the first public intimation that the distinguished 
inventor had turned philosopher. But, notwithstanding his 
well-deserved celebrity in the experimental line, his profession 



192 Proofs of the Immortality 

of materialism left the world wholly unperturbed. No believer 
saw in it a new menace to his faith ; and no unbeliever found in 
it a new justification of his unbelief. The incident passed with 
a tribute of comment from the press scantier than would be 
accorded to a horse-race, or a prize-light. Cardinal Gibbons, 
in a short but forcible reply, showed to him that it would have 
been better for his reputation if he had kept himself within the 
legitimate sphere of his competence and acted on the old maxim, 
"The shoemaker should stick to his last." — " Sutor ne ultra 
crepidam." 

The leaders of physics, chemistry, and geology speak with 
authority as regards the actual facts and empirical laws of their 
own special provinces. But materialism, atheism, and positiv- 
ism are not observed facts, but gratuitous inferences from facts, 
which fall, properly speaking, within the province, not of sci- 
ence, but of metaphysics, as we noticed above. 

Even if it were true that modern scientists as one man stood 
out against Christ and His Church, this would offer no disproof 
of Christianity. But what are the real facts as stated both in 
modern and contemporary history? Is it true that the over- 
whelming majority of men of science are downright unbelievers, 
rejecting the existence of God, divine revelation, the spirituality 
and immortality of man's soul, and a future retribution? The 
contrary is the exact truth, as will be seen from the list, given 
in the next chapter, a long roll of honor which all sane, con- 
servative minds, and sincere Christian believers will gladly wel- 
come and peruse. From the writers, then, who represent them- 
selves as the champions of science we turn to those who are 
recognized as such in the largest and truest sense of the word, 
those to whom the real progress of science is due, the veritable 
pioneers. These, before all, we desire to question concerning 
this supposed conflict between scientific research and religious 
belief. If it exists at all, it will naturally be found most patent 
to the minds of the first order. And if, on the other hand, we 
find among the great investigators, the very pioneers of science, 
many firm and fervent believers, and many of those who admit 
the fundamental truths on which Christianity is founded, we 
shall not set a very high value on the pretended antagonism be- 
tween knowledge and belief, and shall learn what to think of 
the alleged unanimity of science against religion. 

The master minds which have been keenly sensitive to the 
baneful influence of the destructive criticism of the time and 
have preserved nevertheless a vivid faith in the supernatural 
have certainly a prima facie claim as trustworthy guides. And 
it is for this reason that we shall, at the end of the Roll of Honor, 
present to our readers some of the choicest passages culled from 
their writings, which bear ample evidence to the deep-rooted 
faith and thoroughly Christian spirit which inspired them. 



Of the Human Soul 193 

They all uphold in their public utterances and learned works 
this great truth, that Christianity, besides resting on external 
evidences, such as miracles and prophecies, possesses its own 
internal grounds of certainty, which nothing drawn from for- 
eign sources can obscure or shake. Christianity is itself the 
key to both history and science; it is the touchstone of truth; 
and whatever in history or science is found in conflict with it, 
is, by that fact alone, proved to be neither genuine science nor 
authentic history. All this is true only and exclusively of his- 
torical Christianity, which is identical with Catholicism. 

306. We here append, in alphabetical order, the names of 
both Catholic and non-Catholic scientists who, during the last 
two centuries and a half, distinguished themselves in the culti- 
vation of the various branches of natural science, and who at 
the same time remained staunch believers in Christianity and 
its fundamental, dogmatic truths, such as the existence of God, 
the immortality of the human soul, man's moral accountability, 
and the reality of future retribution. 

We mark with an asterisk the names of those to whom the 
world is specially indebted for important discoveries and suc- 
cessful researches in their respective spheres of knowledge. 

For the authentic collection of names deserving of particular 
mention, suitable to our purpose, we are indebted first to that 
monumental production, the " Catholic Encyclopedia"; sec- 
ondly, to Alberi's Italian work entitled "II Problema del 
Vumano Destino."— "The Problem of Man's Destiny"; thirdly, 
to a very able volume on "Christianity and the Leaders of 
Modern Science," by Karl A. Kneller, S. J., English translation 
by T. M. Kettle, B. S., M. P., from whose pages we also borrowed 
several very suggestive thoughts. 



CHAPTER XXI 
THE ROLL OF HONOR 

307. Abbadie, * Agassiz, Altum, * Ampere, * Arago, Avogadro. 
Babinet ; * Baer ; Barrande ; Baum ; Baumgartner ; Beaumont ; 

* De Becquerel : * Bell ; Beneden ; * Bernard : * Berzelius ; Bessel ; 
Bendant; Bellinger; Binet; * Biot ; Bischoff, K. ; Bischoff, T.; 
Blainville ; Boerhaave ; * Bois-Reymond ; Boissier ; Bolyai ; Bon- 
compagni ; Boscovich ; Bossat ; Boule ; * Boyle ; Brandes ; Braum ; 

* Brewster ; * Bridgewater ; Brossyniart : * Buckland. 

Cameron, Carony, Castracane, * Cauchy, Cecchi, * Chaptal, 

* Chevreul, Conybeare, * Copernicus, Coulomb, * Cuvier. 

* Dalton ; * Dana ; Daguerre ; Daniel ; Daubrie ; David ; 

* Davy ; Dawson ; Deusson ; Dechen ; De Lue ; Descattes ; Deles- 
sert ; * Denza ; Desains ; Despretz ; Devitte, C. ; Devitte, H. ; 



194 Proofs of the Immortality 

Drobisch ; Droste-Hulshoff ; * Dumas ; * Dumont ; Dupin ; Du- 
puytren. 

Egerton, Ehrenberg, Elie de Beaumont, Enche, Escher, Esch- 
richt, * Euler. 

* Faraday, * Faye, * Fizeau, Florens, Fontenelle, Forster, 

* Foucault, Frass, Franklin, * Fraunhofer, Fresenius, Fresnet, 

* Freycinet, Friedel, Fuchs. 

* Galileo ; * Galvani ; Gassendi ; Gandry ; * Gauss ; Gautier ; 
Geinitz; Geoffroy-Saint - Hilaire ; Gergonne; Gilbert; Gisnies; 
Grumme ; Grimaldi ; Grassman ; Gray, Asa ; * Grove ; Gruner. 

* Halle ; Haller ; Hanstein ; Hausmann ; Haug ; * Hauy ; Herr ; 
Heinrich ; Heis ; Henry ; * Hermite ; * Herschel, J. F. W. ; Hertz ; 
Hende ; * Hirn ; Hitchcock ; Hladnik ; Huf eland ; * Hyrtl. 

Inghirami. 

Jolly, Joule, Jussieu. 

* Kelvin, Lord ; * Kepler ; Ketteler ; Kickmeyer ; Kircher ; 

* Klaproth ; Roller ; Kreil ; Kronig. 

Labord, Lacordaire, Laennec, Lamarck, Lamont, * Laplace, 

* Lapparent, Larrey, Lutreille, * Lavoisier, * Leibnitz, Leseur, 
Leunis, * Leverrier, * Liebig, Link, * Linmeus, Linacre, Lossen, 

* Lyell. 

MacCulloch; Madter; Mallard; *Malpighi; *Mariotte; Mar- 
tius; * Maury; * Maxwell; Mayer; Merian; Mendel; Miller; 
Milne, Edward ; Muller, F. ; Muller, J. ; Murchison. 

* Newton. 

* Oersted, Ohm, Olbers, Omalius, Oriani, Owen, Ozanam. 
Paley ; Palmieri ; Parlatore ; * Pascal ; * Pasteur ; Pelletier ; 

Pelouze; Perry; Pfaff, F. ; Pfaff, J. ; *Piazzi; * Plana; Plateau; 
Poinsot; Puiseux. 

* Quatrefages, * Quenstedt. 

Rath ; Rauener ; * Rayleigh, Lord ; Rebeur-Taschwitz ; * Re- 
gnault ; Reichenbach ; Relshuber ; Respighi ; Riemann ; * De la 
Rive ; Hollet ; * Romanes ; Roentgen ; Ruete ; * Rumf ord ; Ruti- 
meyer. 

Santini ; Schaf hautl ; Schimper ; Schnizlein ; * Schonbein ; 
Schrank ; Schubert ; * Schwann ; * Secchi ; * De Serres ; Siemens, 
W. ; Simpson ; Spiess ; Spring ; Stark ; Stensen ; Stokes ; * Stop- 
pani; Studer. 

Tart, Tennison, * Thenard, * Torricelli, Triesnecker. 

* Vauquelin ; Vicaire ; De Vico ; Vierordt ; Volkmann, A. A. ; 
Volkmann, R, ; * Volta. 

Waagen, Wagner, Weber, Westermaier, * Whewell, Wigard, 
Wolfe, Woods, Wurtz. 

308. If any of our readers should wish to be convinced of the 
fact that the authors contained in our list are really entitled to 
a place of honor as distinguished cultivators of the natural sci- 
ences, they may easily do so by securing a copy of Father Knel 
ler's valuable work, cited above, in whose pages they will find a 



Of the Human Soul > 195 

full account of their achievements in their respective fields of sci- 
entific investigation. 

It is to the credit of these founders of modern science, the 
master minds of the three preceding centuries, that they had 
a salutary sense of the limitation of experimental methods. 
They realized the fact that progress along those lines brings with 
it no light on the issues of the deepest interest to man, such as the 
questions of the origin, duration, and destiny of man's soul, 
which strictly belong to the sphere of mental philosophy, and, 
in some cases, are the exclusive province of divine revelation, as 
we have occasion to observe in several parts of this work. 
As Lord Rayleigh wisely remarks, ' ' The higher mysteries of be- 
ing, if penetrable at all by human intellect, require other 
weapons than those of calculation and experiment. ' ' 1 

The studies and discoveries of the men we have listed, while 
they opened the way to all subsequent progress, did not inter- 
fere with their belief in God and in the spirituality and immor- 
tality of the human soul. Their reverence for the omnipotent 
Mind that reveals itself in the marvels of nature grew more pro- 
found as their knowledge of natural phenomena became deeper. 

309. Mathias Claudius, a German physicist of great repute, 
after convincing himself from attentive study that the most emi- 
nent scientists of modern times were devout Christian believers, 
sets down his impressions in the following characteristic lan- 
guage: 

' ' I cannot conceal my joy when I reflect on the faith of these 
eminent men. Though religion has nothing to lose or to gain 
by the opposition or by the favor of the learned, yet when we 
recollect that a Newton, the most famous mathematician in Eu- 
rope; a Leverrier, the most renowned astronomer of his times; 
and other celebrated figures humbly prostrated themselves with 
childlike submission before the Author of the wonders of crea- 
tion, I feel my heart overflowing with genuine gladness. I feel 
cheered to see men of such character and genius not priding 
themselves on their wisdom, but, hat in hand, humble and eager 
to learn, drawing close to the altar of the sublime mysteries of 
God." 2 

Who would not derive from such examples new enthusiasm 
in the pursuit of those studies, which, while broadening the field 
of intelligence, strip man of all pretension and confirm him 
more and more in the belief, reverence and love of Him who 
created these wonders to give man upon earth a foretaste of 
the far higher intellectual pleasures that await him in heaven ? 

310. It has been said that facts are stubborn things ; this say- 
ing is verified in the statements we are about to make. 

Whether it is true that the leading modern scientists have 
proclaimed the irreparable defeat of religion and Christianity 
i See Kneller, p. 3. °- Alberi, p. 123. 



196 Proofs of the Immortality 

by rejecting as a result of their investigations such fundamen- 
tal truths as the existence of God, the soul's immortality, and 
future endless retribution, the reader will be able to judge for 
himself by reflecting on the following principles, sentiments and 
sayings, gleaned from the utterances and writings of some 
among the most illustrious names contained in the Koll of Honor 
given above. 

Most of the quotations are taken from Kneller 's work already 
referred to. 

1. ''The firm conviction, which I have, based on scientific facts, 
and without any reference to revelation, of personal immortality, 
and of a higher direction of human life, was my greatest con- 
solation when I clasped the cold hand of my dying mother. ' ' — 
Kobert Mayer, p. 20. 

2. "May the dream, which we call life, be for you a happy 
dream, a foretaste of that true life, which we shall inherit in 
our true home ! ' ' — Karl Frederick Gauss, in a letter to his friend 
the Hungarian Bolyai, p. 44. 

3. "At the sight of the Cross planted on this grave in token of 
our hope, my tongue is silent. May we all lift ourselves in 
thought to the other side of that tremendous gulf, which sepa- 
rates our earthly sciences, so straitened and limited, from the 
lofty truths of that divine wisdom, which shall be imparted to 
all in Heaven. ' ' — S. L. Cauchy, in his discourse at the funeral of 
the great French mathematician, J. P. M. Binet, p. 56. 

4. "The study of the heavens has only confirmed and deep- 
ened my faith in Christianity." — Leverrier, p. 95. (See article 
in the "Catholic Encyclopedia" on this distinguished man.) 

5. "There are realities other than the body, other than ma- 
terial things, other than this glittering world of stars. There 
is thought; there is intellect, and a higher intellect from which 
ours is derived. I accept the traditional formula: 'Almighty 
God, Creator of Heaven and Earth. ' ' ' — Herve Faye, p. 100. 

6. "It has been said that natural sciences hide away from 
view the things of God, and draw men to atheism. The true 
and genuine champions of science answer that such charges are 
absolutely groundless. Of astronomy in particular we hope to 
show that exactly the opposite is true; and that appeal should 
be made to it to restore and confirm those beliefs, which are 
rightly esteemed the noblest possession of mankind." — J. H. 
von Madler, p. 102. 

7. "I can never cease thanking Almighty God for the in- 
estimable gift of my unshaken faith in the Catholic Church, in 
whose bosom I am firmly resolved to live and die, with the livety 
hope of attaining the happiness of life everlasting." — Yolta, p. 
117. 

8. "The progress of science has tended to deepen the dis- 
tinction between the visible part of man, which perishes before 



Of the Human Soul 197 

our eyes, and that which we are ourselves: and to show that 
his personality, with respect to its nature as well as to its des- 
tiny, lies quite beyond the range of science. ' ' — Clerk Maxwell, in 
his essay entitled "Natural Science and Immortality," p. 140. 

9. Dr. Louis Fizeau thus spoke of his friend C. Antoine Bec- 
querel: "At the advanced age of over ninety years, he peace- 
fully expired with the serenity of a philosopher, the tranquillity 
of soul of a good man comforted by his trust in God, and the be- 
lief in the immortal hope of a Christian." — P. 173. 

10. "The Catholic religion has ever been the inspirer of my 
studies; and fortified by its unspeakable consolations, I hope to 
pass from earth to eternal peace." — Louis Palmieri, p. 175. 

11. "There is a numerous group not in the slightest degree 
entitled as physicists, who assert that not merely life, but even 
volition and consciousness are mere physical manifestations. 
Into such errors no genuine scientific man will fall, so long, at 
least, as he retains his reason. Such aberrations are to be at- 
tributed to that credulity which is characteristic alike of igno- 
rance and incapacity." — P. G. Tait, p. 177. 

12. "In Louis Jacques Thenard there was something greater 
than his sublime intellect and boundless knowledge; there was 
a heart profoundly Christian. He submitted his intellect to the 
dogmas of the Church, as he submitted his will to her precepts. 
In losing Baron Thenard I have lost one of the best friends of 
my poor." So spoke the rector of S. Sulpice at his funeral. — 
P. 183. 

13. "The immortal, immaterial free soul, such is the chief 
aspect under which life presents itself to our study." — Jean 
Baptiste A. Dumas, p. 189. 

14. ' ' Some would-be scientists have attempted to exhibit phys- 
ical science as the stay and support of materialism. This has 
been the language of mere dilettantes, whose mental equipment 
can bring them no farther than the outer fringe of science." — 
Julius von Liebig, p. 196. 

15. "I, as a man who- has devoted his days [more than 80 
years] to the pursuit of truth, feel impelled to declare that I 
have never been either a materialist or a skeptic." — Michel Eu- 
gene Chevreul, ultra centenarian. (Born 1786 — died 1889 — 
aged 103.) 

16. "We are not in this world merely to enjoy ourselves. 
No — we are here, religion tells us, to love and serve God ; we- are 
here, science tells us, to understand and admire the will and the 
ideas of God."— Ernest Mullard, p. 246. 

17. ' ' One of our first duties is to- cultivate a sense of the good- 
ness and wisdom of the Author of nature, by a continuous study 
of the work of His power." — George Cuvier, p. 251. 

18. "His pure and immortal spirit was able, without anguish 
or dismay, to take its leave of the world, the splendors and 



198 Proofs of the Immortality 

harmonies of which he has so nobly sought to reveal. His soul 
appeared, no doubt, with confidence before that Sovereign Judge, 
in whom he had always placed his hopes and faith." — From 
the eulogy pronounced at the funeral of Elie de Beaumont by 
his friend, J. B. A. Dumas, p. 255. 

19. "I propose to lay before you some considerations which 
will show how unjust is the charge so commonly made that the 
articles of our Christian Faith are in contradiction with the 
established results of science.' ' — From the speech delivered be- 
fore the Belgian Scientific Academy by D'Omalius, p. 270. 

20. "In direct opposition to the materialists I find myself 
compelled to postulate in man the existence of a spiritual princi- 
ple, without which the facts of conscious perception are in- 
explicable. ' ' — Chr. George Theodore Ruete, in his inaugural 
address on the existence of the soul regarded from the stand- 
point of science, delivered at the University of Leipzig, p. 315. 

21. "It is just because I have thought and sought so much that 
I believe with the faith of a Breton peasant: if I had thought 
more and studied more, I would have come to believe with the 
faith of a Breton peasant's wife." — Answer of Louis Pasteur 
to a student who had asked him how it was that after so much 
study and research he could still remain a believer in Chris- 
tianity, p. 327. 

In this connection it is interesting to remember that Renan, 
the infamous writer against the divinity of Christ, was ap- 
pointed to refute Pasteur's celebrated address pronounced on 
the occasion of his reception into the French Academy. In this 
inaugural speech the latter vigorously combated the positivistic 
doctrine which attempts to account for the existence and govern- 
ment of the world without the intervention of an omnipotent 
Creator and Sovereign Ruler. The distinguished writer Mel- 
chior de Vogue, in giving the result of this trial of arms, said 
that the crystal argumentation of Renan, the shallow dilettante, 
came in contact with the iron armor of the earnest savant Louis 
Pasteur; hence we are not surprised at the result — the crystal- 
line weapon was pulverized and the iron armor of Pasteur 
added another laurel to his victorious combats. P. 329. 

22. "When we enter within the circle of immortal life, we 
find eternal joy. Yes, what eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, 
what hath not entered into the heart of man to conceive, that is 
the bliss which I hope to possess when I have put off the flesh. ' ' 
Von Martius, p. 357. 

23. "Natural science is able, above all, to expose the contra- 
dictions of materialism, and to show its untenableness. In point 
of fact, science rightly directed is the best and most stable bar- 
rier against error, leading us to recognize the universe as the 
temple of the Almighty." — Andreas von Baumgartner, p. 400. 

Not to trespass on the space allotted to this third part of my 



Of the Human Soul 199 

book, I here end my quotations. Those that I have alleged and 
others — which might be multiplied almost indefinitely — bear un- 
doubted witness to the belief of prominent scientific men of dif- 
ferent nationalities in the existence of a Supreme Creator and 
Sovereign Judge of mankind, and in the spirituality and im- 
mortality of the soul of man. 

We are therefore justified in reckoning the leading scientists 
of the present and the last two centuries as valiant supporters 
of the endless duration of the human soul and of the everlast- 
ing retribution awaiting man in the world to come. 

311. The testimonies we have alleged cannot but convince 
every fair-minded man that all real reliable data of science, in- 
stead of opposing, only confirm the truths of faith. If apparent 
contradictions are met with, it is either because writers 
attribute to the Sacred Scriptures what they do not convey, or 
accept as a certain result of science a mere hypothesis which 
may sooner or later be set aside on further investigation. There 
may be at times a divergence between theologians and scientists, 
but never between approved theology and true science, or be- 
tween the verdict of nature and the truths of revelation. Truth 
can never be in conflict with truth, nor can one truth be more 
or less true — if a truth at all — than another. Religion, if re- 
ligion, is true; and science, if science, is also true. How, then, 
is it possible that there can be any contradiction between them. 3 

The unanimous verdict of the numerous distinguished sci- 
entists recorded above is to the effect that natural science can 
allege no fact, law, or discovery antagonistic to the teachings of 
divine revelation on man's destiny, his soul's immortality, and 
the necessity of future retribution. 

It may now be interesting to turn to science herself and ask 
her whether she can say anything positive concerning the mighty 
problems of human life, that is, whether such investigation 
falls within the sphere of her competence. The answer is that 
she cannot say anything definite on that subject. Her field is 
limited to the study of the phenomena that can be reached by 
observation and experiments. The spiritual and the super- 
natural world does not acknowledge the potency of blowpipes, 
crucibles, retorts, or chemical and spectrum analysis. The speed 
of thought is far too swift for the electrical current to overtake 
it, and its realm too far removed for the strongest telescope to 
reach it. In short, observation and experiment, the two great 
instruments of science, are utterly useless when man has to deal 
with his soul, the purpose and duration of its existence, and 
what lot may await it in the world to come. If she cannot 
prove life beyond death, neither can she disprove it. Her in- 
struments of research are indeed very powerful, but they are 

3 See Vatican Council, Ch. 4, D. Enchiridion, p. 476 ; Brownson's Works, 
vol. ix. p. 540; The Conflict of Science and Religion, p. 547. 



200 Proofs of the Immortality 

utterly impotent when prying into the spirit-world. Here it is 
well to remember that too often it is taken for granted that in 
religion we must walk by faith, whereas in science one can al- 
ways walk by sight. But the truth is that the man of science, 
no less than the man of religion, is compelled in many instances 
to walk by faith and by authority, the very sources of knowl- 
edge which some would-be scientists set aside as unreliable. As 
a matter of fact, science cannot take the first steps without per- 
forming several acts of faith. She must assume that the uni- 
verse is an objective reality ; that its phenomena are intelligible ; 
that truth is attainable; that man's mental and sensitive facul- 
ties in their normal condition enable him to reach the truth; 
that many of the discoveries made by scientific pioneers and the 
many data and facts ascertained by them can be relied upon 
as trustworthy. Though this is quite true, yet it must be ad- 
mitted that there is no more trustworthy voice than that of 
revealed religion. The doctrine of immortality is certainly a 
part of the Christian religion distinctly proclaimed by Jesus 
Christ, its Founder. But, as we have shown, men believed in 
immortality long before Jesus came. Hence the idea that man 
survives death is not a novelty introduced by Christianity. It 
is taught, to be sure, in the Hebrew Scriptures, and much more 
plainly in the writings of the New Testament; but the argu- 
ments for immortality are not confined to the Bible. From 
the remotest ages of history, arguments for immortality have 
been advanced by the sages of antiquity, which satisfy philo- 
sophic and scientific minds. Hence belief in a life to come is 
held as an heirloom by the whole human race. We may call it 
a philosophic, or a historic and religious belief. Probably we 
may name it best if we simply designate it as a human belief; 
a belief that is the birthright of every people, nay, of every 
man born into our world. 

CONCLUSION OF PART III 

312. Dear Reader : After a time, which might be shorter than 
we think, the structure of our material frame being destroyed 
by death, our soul shall find itself in the state of separation, a 
quite novel manner of existence. What is extremely important 
is that when the solemn moment comes our soul should appear 
before our Supreme Judge, not sullied with the canker of 
grievous sin, but adorned with the bright robe of sanctifying 
grace, so as to be worthy of the inheritance, as St. Peter assures 
us, ' ' incorruptible and undefiled and that cannot fade, ' ' 4 re- 
served in Heaven "to His faithful servants by Our Saviour and 
Redeemer, Jesus Christ, to whom be honor and glory forever! 
Amen. ' ' 

This third part of our volume having shown that God 's sanc- 

4 1 Peter i. 4. 



Of the Human Soul 201 

tion is eternal, and that our soul, the recipient of either reward 
or punishment, according to its deserts, is immortal, we are now 
prepared to ascertain, in the following part, the nature, charac- 
ter, and qualities of the eternal remunerative sanction made 
known to us by God 's revelation, interpreted and expounded by 
His infallible representative, the Catholic Church, and fully ap- 
proved by the voice of reason. 



PART IV 
THE REMUNERATIVE SANCTION 

As both the soul and the body concur, with the aid of divine 
grace, in the great work of sanctification, so divine goodness and 
justice have promised and reserved to both these constituents of 
man's personality a special heavenly recompense. We are now 
concerned with the treatment of what constitutes both the prp 
mary or essential, and the secondary or accidental reward of 
the human soul, leaving the discussion of the recompense of the 
human body to subsequent separate chapters. 

CHAPTER I 
THE HAPPINESS OF THE SOUL 

PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS 

313. I need not stop to prove the existence of heaven. It is 
not heaven that must be proved, but hell. What terrifies the 
human mind, what confronts it as an apparent impossibility 
and a downright contradiction, is only the thought of hell. 
Hence it is the stern reality of this terrible dogma that must be 
supported, as we shall see, by irrefutable proofs. 

All the divine attributes demand and proclaim the exist- 
ence of heaven. Abolish heaven and what remains of the 
groundwork of God in bringing humanity into existence? 
The few days of a mortal life, filled more with sorrows than with 
joys, and after, the gloom of nothingness in the end. What be- 
comes then of God 's power, wisdom, promises, and love ? Admit 
heaven and all is explained — the sorrows of life shall be con- 
soled, the labors rewarded, virtue crowned, all human aspira- 
tions completely gratified. 

314. Creation and Redemption, liberty and grace, the natural 
and the supernatural order, the action of Divine Providence in 
the history of the world as well as its influence over the hearts 
of men, to what do they finally tend? To happiness in life 
eternal. And the establishment of God's Church, the institu- 
tion of the sacraments, the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the 
apostles and His permanent abiding in their legitimate suc- 
cessors, the preaching of the Gospel to the nations — do not all 
these great events point to the same lofty end, the glory of God 
and the endless happiness of man? It is evidently for us, for 

203 



204 Heaven the Remunerative Sanction 

our eternal salvation, that God's only begotten Son descended 
from heaven, deigned to live and converse with men, and died 
on the cross to save them from perdition and bring them to the 
enjoyment of eternal bliss. This bliss chiefly consists in the 
beatific vision, the "happy-making" sight, by which the souls of 
the just behold God's majesty, and His infinite perfections. As 
the schoolmen explain, the souls of the just indeed enjoy perfect 
beatitude and contentment from beholding the very essence of 
God, though, owing to their limited faculties, they cannot totally 
comprehend it. As St. Thomas writes in his immortal Summa 
Theologica: "Electi Dominum violent totum, sed non totaliter." 1 
God gives Himself entirely to a glorified soul in heaven, and 
through the aid of the light of glory (lumen gloriae) — such a 
soul possesses all God (totum) but obviously not wholly (totali- 
ter). Or, to put it in a different way, the blessed soul, in em- 
bracing God, most undoubtedly embraces and enjoys an infinite 
good, but in an essentially finite degree, suitable to its limited 
faculties, and proportionate to its merits. Even the humanity 
of Christ does not receive divine gifts and graces infinitely, for, 
as St. Thomas teaches, 2 the humanity of Christ, on account of 
its union with God, possesses not an absolute but a relative in- 
finity, for human nature, however exalted, cannot be capable 
of any act that involves infinity. Hence the following proposi- 
tion was condemned at the Council of Basel with the approval of 
Pope Nicholas V: "The soul of Christ sees God as clearly and 
intensely as God sees Himself. ' ' For the same reason, while love 
is infinite on the part of God, the Giver, it is necessarily finite 
on the part of the creature, the recipient. 

A still fuller explanation of this matter is furnished by the 
same Angelic Doctor who, answering his own objection: "It 
seems that those who see the Divine Essence, comprehend God, ' ' 
writes as follows: "Comprehension is twofold; in one sense 
it is taken strictly and properly, as when a being is entirely in- 
cluded in the one that comprehends it. In this sense God can- 
not be comprehended by any created intellect, whether angelic 
or human, for the simple reason that an infinite being cannot be 
comprised in a finite one. In another sense comprehension is 
taken more largely, and it means that the object aimed at is 
actually reached or attained. In this sense God is comprehended 
by the blessed, and comprehension becomes for them the full 
realization of their hopes. ' ' 3 Such is the explanation we may 
give of St. Paul's words: "Not as though I had already at- 
tained, or were already perfect ; but I follow after, if I may by 
any means apprehend. ' ' 4 What St. Paul says of the impossi- 
bility of his attaining the perfection of Christ may be allegor- 

i P. i, q. 12, a. 7. 3 P. i, q. xii, a. 7. 

2 P. iii, q. 10, a. 1. * Philipp. iii. 12. 



As Divinely Revealed 205 

ically applied to the inability of finite, limited creatures to com- 
prehend the infinite perfections of God. God's vision implies 
three special gifts. Because the elect see God, they possess Him 
as present, they perpetually retain the power to see Him, and en- 
joy Him, as the ultimate and perfect fulness of all the goods 
that they can possibly desire. 

What idea, then, should we form of life eternal ? Our life will 
then be like the flower in full bloom, or like the fruit of super- 
natural grace, which the Lord planted in the human soul, sancti- 
fied and brought to its full maturity in the celestial paradise. 

In the language of St. Augustine, "The glory, the grandeur 
of the contemplation of God's majesty, which are to constitute 
our happiness, baffle all description, surpass all our brightest 
anticipations, and vastest desires. We may merit such happiness, 
we may one day actually possess it, but neither here nor here- 
after shall we ever be able to fully comprehend it. " 5 

315. Among the authorized exponents of the Church's belief 
on any question referring to her teachings must be reckoned the 
Catechism of the Council of Trent. Following is its explanation 
of the Twelfth Article of the Apostles' Creed — I believe in life 
everlasting: "Heavenly happiness is defined and described by 
the Fathers as the possession of all goods, and the exemption 
from all evils." 

A very correct and comprehensive idea of heaven was given 
by St. Bernard, the learned abbot of Clairvaux, when he said 
that it contains all goods and excludes all evils. Developing 
this thought we may ask the Christian soul : What do you de- 
sire? There all your wishes will be completely gratified. Are 
you yearning for beauty ? God is infinite beauty, and His elect, 
the saints, Christ assures us in His Gospel, "Shall shine as the 
sun in the kingdom of their Father. ' ' 6 Are you longing for a 
long, healthy life ? There you will possess eternal health. Are 
you hoping for a full gratification of the faculties of the soul, 
and of the senses of the body worthy and proper of that place of 
peerless purity and holiness? The holy prophet David gives 
you, in God's name, this solemn assurance: "They shall be 
inebriated, Lord, with the plenty of Thy house, and Thou 
shalt make them drink of the torrent of Thy pleasure. " 7 Do 
you aspire to knowledge and wisdom? You will forever con- 
template God's own infinite wisdom, and become wiser than any 
mortal, past, present, or future, Solomon himself not excluded. 
Are you anxious to have many friends? God and His angels 
and saints will cherish for you greater friendship and love than 
has ever been bestowed on men upon earth. Are you fond of 
lofty dignities? The blessed in heaven are honored as kings, 
and exercise greater power than has ever been wielded by earthly 
monarchs. Lastly, do you expect security and stability in the 

s Serm. xxxvii. 6 Matt. xiii. 43. 7 p s . xxxv. 9. 



206 Heaven the Remunerative Sanction 

possession and enjoyment of all your goods? You will have 
them, for Christ said of His elect : ' ' They shall not perish for- 
ever and no man shall pluck them out of My hand. " 8 ' ' Your 
heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man shall take from you. ' ' 9 
It is well to recall here the distinction between the essential, 
and the accessory happiness of heaven. The former consists in 
the contemplation of God, and the consequent enjoyment of His 
infinite beauty and perfections. The latter comprehends all 
other delights, particularly those resulting from the union of the 
risen, glorious body with the blessed soul. The elect, through 
God's vision, whilst retaining their own nature, shall assume a 
certain marvelous, almost divine form; a sublime truth con- 
veyed to us by the Evangelist St. John: "Dearly beloved, we 
are now the sons of God; and it hath not yet appeared what 
we shall be. We know that when He shall appear, we shall be 
like to Him, because we shall see Him as He is." 10 The Se- 
cret of the First Mass on Christmas Day seems to insinuate 
the same wonderful transformation effected by the beatific 
vision: ". . . that through Thy grace we may be clothed with 
the form of Him in whom abides with Thee our own human 
substance." A like sentiment we find expressed in the Secret of 
the Second Christmas Mass: "... that, as He, who was born 
a man, shone at the same time as God, so His earthly human na- 
ture may bestow upon us what is divine." A similar thought 
is evidently conveyed by St. Peter, who writes : ' ' That by these 
(most precious promises) you may be made partakers of the di- 
vine nature." 1X St. Leo the Great thus speaks of the principal 
effect of Holy Communion: "By partaking of the body and 
blood of Christ we are transformed into what we receive." 12 If 
this happens in the Eucharistic union upon earth, a far more 
perfect transformation must take place in heaven, by the soul's 
union with God resulting from the beatific vision. 



CHAPTER II 
WHAT IS SEEN THROUGH THE BEATIFIC VISION 

316. It is highly interesting to examine somewhat in detail 
what are the objects seen and enjoyed by the vision of God. 

1 ' To see God ! " A few simple words, but who will be able to 
fathom their meaning, who can realize what they contain ? "We 
are incapable, ' ' writes St. Augustine, ' ' of speaking in a befitting 
manner of this vision, yet we cannot be altogether silent about 
it. " * This vision is, in the first place, a full and a clear knowl- 
edge of God, that is, the highest knowledge of the sublimest ob- 

s John x. 28. 9 Ibid. xvi. 22. io 1 John iii. 2. 

n 2 Peter i. 4. 12 Serm. de Passione, 14. 1 De Civit. Dei. i, ix, n. xii, 



As Divinely Revealed 207 

ject, causing the greatest happiness in the beholder. The blessed 
shall see in God all the mysteries of faith, all the marvels of crea- 
tion, and all the events of the human race from its origin to the 
day of the last judgment. ' ' I will behold Thy heavens, ' ' writes 
the Royal Psalmist, "the works of Thy fingers, the moon and the 
stars, which Thou hast founded. ' ' 2 And all this the blessed will 
know more clearly, more thoroughly than has been done or could 
ever have been done by the most learned men that ever lived 
upon earth. 3 

When we see a man most powerful and exceedingly wise, we 
behold indeed his external appearance, but we cannot see the 
beauty and perfection of his soul. Not so with the blessed. In 
seeing God, they see at the same time all His infinite perfections. 
Hence they behold in Him the source of all wisdom, goodness, 
truth, beauty, sweetness, and joy. They see the immensity, the 
greatness, the sublimity of His majesty and the immutable 
eternity of His existence. They see the wisdom that conceived 
all things to be brought into existence and the omnipotent power 
that made them and the goodness which moved Him to do all 
things for man's sake. They see the sublimest mysteries of 
our holy Faith — the Holy Trinity, the Incarnation, the Blessed 
Eucharist, all the truths of the Sacred Scriptures, all that on 
earth was the object of their faith. 

317. Another source of untold happiness will be the contem- 
plation of the City of God, the divine abode, in which He dis- 
plays the greatness of His magnificence, of which the prophet 
tells us, ' ' Only there our Lord is magnificent, ' ' 4 meaning thereby 
that all the magnificence exhibited by the Creator in the world 
we inhabit bears no comparison with that of the mansion of the 
blessed. There they will behold the number, merits, glory, and 
beauty of all the just, and admire in all the goodness and mercy 
of God that created, sanctified, and finally brought them to the 
enjoyment of heavenly bliss. 5 

Moreover, they will know God's providential disposition, 
order, and regulation of all human events, from the very be- 
ginning of the human race even to its earthly termination; the 
history of each individual, thus embracing in their vision all 
that happened in the flights of centuries, from the beginning to 
the end of the present world. 

There exists a most cogent reason for such knowledge of men 's 
doings, which will also be known to the reprobates at the last 
judgment, and it is this: All men must then be convinced of 
and acknowledge the justice of God in awarding to each indi- 
vidual what he merited in his lifetime, either recompense or pun- 
ishment, as the case may be. And this manifestation will be so 
evident, so striking that even the reprobates will be compelled 

2 Ps. viii 4. 3 St. Thomas. Suppl. p. 3, qu. 92, art. 3. 

4 Is. xxxiii. 21. 5 St. Thomas, Suppl. p. 3, q. 87, a. 3. 



208 Heaven the Remunerative Sanction 

to exclaim, in the words of the Psalmist, ' ' Thou art just, Lord, 
and Thy judgment is right, " 6 a truth which shall have been 
already recognized and confessed by the reprobate soul on the 
manifestation of the sentence pronounced against it by the Su- 
preme Judge at the particular judgment. Here some one might 
ask, What proof, what warrant have we for the truth of what is 
asserted above ? To answer this question we have only to quote 
St. Paul's words, who thus speaks in his first Epistle to the 
Corinthians: "Judge not before the time; until the Lord come, 
who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will 
make manifest the counsels of the hearts. ' ' 7 Now, in or- 
der that God's justice toward each human individual should be 
manifest to all, it will be necessary for them to know what Di- 
vine Providence did for each of them, how often God favored 
them with divine inspirations and inducements to a virtuous, 
holy life ; how many means and occasions of salvation He offered 
to them; how many times He called them to repentance; and 
with what patience and longanimity He tolerated sinners in their 
reckless career. The knowledge of all these things is necessary 
for arriving at a just appreciation of each one's merits or de- 
merits, and as a means of fully recognizing and vindicating the 
wisdom, goodness, and justice of Divine Providence in the gov- 
ernment of the world. If, as theologians tell us, even the repro- 
bates, for the reasons alleged, will possess this knowledge, in 
whatever manner God may impart it to them, it is evident that 
the blessed, illumined by the light of glory, will understand and 
know the secrets of hearts in a manner immeasurably more per- 
fect. And whilst on one hand the reprobates will derive from 
such knowledge only vain and tardy repentance and bitter re- 
morse, the blessed on the other hand will experience inconceiv- 
able happiness and be moved to sing with deepest gratitude 
eternal hymns of thanksgiving to the Deity, by whose mercy they 
escaped eternal misery and obtained everlasting bliss. "The 
mercies of the Lord I will sing for ever. ' ' 8 

It has been said: Eternity is indeed very long. Is it not 
possible for the blessed to become at length wearied of the same 
everlasting contemplation? I remember having read of an in- 
fidel who said that, if there be any future life, he would prefer 
hell to the interminable chanting of psalms in heaven. 

318. Whoever speaks thus has not the remotest idea of what 
heaven is. If one imagines that the blessed will be able to see, 
at a single glance, all that can be seen in God, and that for 
all eternity they will only behold the same sight over and oyer 
again, there might be some reason for anticipating the possibility 
of weariness in the beatific vision. But, on the contrary, as God 
is infinite, the more the soul sees of Him, and of His inexhausti- 
ble beauty and perfections, the more it will desire to see. Then 

6 Ps. cxviii. 137. ? l Cor. iv. 5. » Ps. lxxxviii. 2. 



As Divinely Eevealed 209 

only will it cease to wish to see more, when it will have seen all 
that can be seen in God. To do this, the creature itself will 
need to be infinite, which is absolutely impossible and supremely 
absurd. And what happens here on this earth, though deserv- 
edly called an exile and a valley of tears ? Do people generally 
get tired of living on it? Are they so very anxious to quit 
it? How then can we believe that the blessed, enraptured by 
the exquisite delights of the beatific vision, can ever become weary 
of it? 



CHAPTER III 

THE BEATITUDE OF THE INTELLECT 

319. As St. Thomas and other eminent theologians tell us, au 
abundant source of happiness for the human intellect will be 
the perfect knowledge of the wonders of creation and all its parts. 
If so much pleasure is derived in this life from the study of the 
several branches of science, both physical and mental, immensely 
greater will be the delights reserved to the blessed from the full 
comprehension of the laws and phenomena of nature ; a knowl- 
edge which costs them no labor, which, we shall soon show, sur- 
passes all the scientific attainments ever acquired by mortals 
in the present world. The Royal Psalmist, referring to the 
astounding marvels of starry space, rejoices at the thought that 
he will be able to contemplate and grasp their full grandeur and 
beauty in the life to come: "I will behold Thy heavens, 
Lord, the works of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which 
Thou hast founded." 1 

Out of the many millions of human beings now walking the 
earth, how few have the capacity, leisure, and the means of 
studying the marvels of the universe ! Here we may ask : For 
what purpose did Almighty God call into existence the count- 
less millions of material and irrational beings that surround us, 
whether they be the microscopic infusoria, ten thousand of which 
might march abreast through the eye of a needle, or giant suns, 
dashing with lightning speed through the realm of starry space ? 
As has been shown in Part I, He created them for His own 
glory. ' ' The Lord hath made all things for Himself. ' ' 2 Sec- 
ondarily, He made them for the service, pleasure, and happi- 
ness particularly of His elect, who use them not to offend their 
Divine Benefactor, but to praise and glorify Him. 

This thought opportunely reminds me of the sentiment ex- 
pressed by the author of the "Imitation of Christ": "Truly 
a lowly rustic that serveth God is better than a proud philoso- 
pher who pondereth the course of the stars and neglecteth him- 

i Ps. viii. 4. 2 Prov. xvi. 4. 



210 Heaven the Remunerative Sanction 

self". 3 that is. fails to render to his Creator the homage of 
praise, honor and submission due to Him. As we have re- 
marked, it is not in the present life, but in the next that it will 
be given to the just to enjoy to their heart's content the marvels 
contained in the countless creatures that surround us. To un- 
derstand the astonishing feats of human intelligence displayed 
b}' the blessed in heaven, let us make a supposition. 

Behold gathered in a vast library all that the most distin- 
guished savants have written on the sciences and philosophy, on 
history, on the fine arts from the beginning of the world up 
to our times. Then let us suppose that Almighty God should 
say to a man : "I will give you an intellect capable of master- 
ing all that learning, and such a retentive memory that you will 
be able to recall at will all that vast knowledge." Would not 
this man exhibit so prodigious a learning as will never be wit- 
nessed on earth? 

Let us also suppose that the Lord were to bestow on a soul so 
privileged the artistic power of a Raphael, the grand conceptions 
of a Michelangelo; the ability of a Mozart for musical composi- 
tion, who can describe the ecstatic feelings of joy and happiness 
thrilling through that fortunate soul! 

320. Now this is precisely the wonder that Almighty God per- 
forms in heaven, not only in behalf of one single man, or indi- 
vidual soul, but of all the elect. Yes, the lowliest among them 
will possess more knowledge and know a greater number of 
truths than were ever attained by the most learned men on 
earth, including King Solomon himself, though according to the 
testimony of Holy Scripture, he was the wisest of men. 4 

The most humble of the blessed will relish all the charms ever 
enjoyed by all the artists put together, for the Lord will give 
to human intelligence a supernatural light, which will render 
it capable of perceiving at a glance the good, the beautiful and 
the true in all their splendor. 5 



CHAPTER IV 

THE BEATITUDE OF THE WILL 

321. As truth and knowledge form the object of the intellect, 
so good and love constitute that of the will. It is plain that the 
good possessed in heaven by the blessed could not be greater or 
more perfect, because it is God Himself, the infinite, immense, 
perfect good and the inexhaustible source of all the delights of 
paradise. As we showed in Part I, it is the possession of such 
good, the last and supreme end of man, that makes him per- 

s Book i, eh. 2. *3 Kings iii 11, 12. 

s See T. Hamon, S.J.* An De La du Tombeau (Beyond the Grave), p 295. 



As Divinely Revealed 211 

fectly happy and fully contented. As we need not repeat here 
what we have already stated, we proceed at once to consider what 
will be the love of the blessed toward the Lord, and why they 
feel themselves irresistibly drawn toward Him. From the per- 
fect vision of God, and the undimmed contemplation of His di- 
vine essence and attributes, there springs in the elect a love so 
attractive as to be absolutely irresistible, though leaving in them 
intact the exercise of their liberty. It is clear that the greater 
the good the greater is the creature's tendency toward it. 
Now, as God is a good of infinite perfection, excellence, and 
beauty, so man's highest happiness cannot but be fully realized 
in possessing and loving Him with the most ardent affection of 
which creatures can be capable. From the intense love of the 
blessed toward their Lord, there arises in them an indescrib- 
able joy in the production of which four elements or conditions 
concur; namely, the matchless beauty of the object, its extreme 
amiability, the complacency in loving it, and the delight arising 
from the knowledge and affection of such an object. 

Among the perfections found in created things is the power 
of giving us pleasure, of making us happy. Each being has a 
degree of perfection and beauty proper to its nature. The Al- 
pine glow of the Swiss mountains fills us with a delightful as- 
tonishment. A Dante, a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Raphael, 
a Murillo inspire us by their astounding creations; we are 
charmed and carried away by the symphony of a Beethoven. 
Now, all this is but a drop in the ocean of beauty, the beatific 
power found in God. From this ocean we shall drink for all 
eternity, without ever exhausting it, because it is infinite. The 
ocean is diminished if but one drop is drawn from it. Yet all 
the joys, raptures, and delights derived by the blessed from 
God's vision for all eternity shall not take from Him one atom 
of His capacity to make happy myriads of His rational crea- 
tures. 

Besides the joys produced by divine love, as explained above, 
there are in store for the blessed other delights arising from the 
love of their associates in the heavenly mansions; joys and de- 
lights so exquisite as to be inferior only to those produced by the 
possession of God Himself. As to themselves, they will rejoice 
principally, of course, in the participation in God's own happi- 
ness, which will forever banish all grief, pain, anxiety, and 
solicitude. To all this is added the crowning glory of heaven, 
the eternity of its duration, for they will have a most certain 
assurance that such a happiness will never be lost. 

As nothing will be more sad and painful to the reprobates than 
the conviction of the eternity of their torments, so, on the con- 
trary, nothing will contribute more to the completeness and 
perfection of the joy of the blessed than the clear knowledge of 
its everlasting: duration. 



212 Heaven the Remunerative Sanction 

As there is such a thing as anticipated happiness, when it is 
a question of its future certainty, guaranteed by God's infallible 
promises to all His faithful servants, so it must be a source of 
the sweetest gladness for all sincere believers to think often of 
those heavenly treasures, which, as the Divine Saviour assures 
us, neither the moth nor rust consumes, and to cast longing 
glances toward that blessed region, where sorrow is unknown, 
where the just drink of the torrent of pleasure and are inebri- 
ated with the plenty of the house of God. 

When the last word of the sentence at the dread tribunal 
shall have been uttered, and, through God's infinite mercy, 
should it be a sentence of salvation, our soul's jubilant gladness 
shall know no bounds. We shall then reach the land unswept 
by storms, we shall enter the city and temple of the Lord of the 
universe, fresh from the clasp of death and rejoicing for our 
final victory over sin. The beloved of long ago will gather about 
us and give us a cheering welcome. They will meet us at the 
landing on the shore of our eternal home. They will greet us, 
speak our name and lead us to the feet of Jesus, who will con- 
fess us before the angels, and bestow on us the conqueror 's crown, 
amidst the applause and exultation to which only the inhabitants 
of paradise can give utterance. Then we shall hear in heaven 
the secret words which St. Paul assures us "It is not granted 
to man to utter" (upon earth). 1 

That such is the state of the blessed can be further demon- 
strated by the following considerations: 

Should the elect be subject to sadness, sorrow, or grief, it 
might be for one of the following reasons : Either for the sake 
of God on account of the many offenses committed against His 
sovereign majesty, or because of their knowledge of the loss of 
some of their relatives and friends. 

322. In the first place, the blessed cannot be saddened for 
God's sake, for all the sins of men, even indefinitely multiplied, 
can cause no affliction to Him, nor diminish in the least His in- 
finite joy. And though God's external glory seems to be in a 
manner impaired and obscured by the sins of men, yet His 
wisdom and power will derive great good even from them and in 
spite of them. By tolerating the sinners' wicked lives in this 
world, God displays in a marvelous manner His attributes of 
goodness, longanimity, forbearance, and patience; and by pun- 
ishing obstinate, rebellious sinners in the next world He mani- 
fests in a most striking manner the attributes of His justice and 
omnipotence. God is patient, says St. Augustine, because He is 
eternal. Having a whole eternity in which to avenge the wrongs 
done to His supreme majesty, He can well afford to tolerate the 
sinner's iniquitous conduct, for the brief span of the few years 
of his mortal life. "The Lord shall laugh at him [the sinner] 

i 2 Cor. xii. 4. 



As Divinely Revealed 213 

for He f oreseeth that his day shall come. ' ' 2 Hence the blessed 
can have no reason or cause of sadness on account of men's of- 
fenses committed against God, whom they know to possess infi- 
nite joy, happiness, and delight, of which no rebellious creature 
can ever deprive Him. Hence all the Scriptural expressions re- 
ferring to God's sadness, sorrow, regrets, etc., are invariably to 
be taken in a metaphorical sense ; they are, so to speak, a human 
language, intended to make men understand the gravity of sin, 
which would cause sadness, sorrow, and grief even in God Him- 
self, if He were capable of such human afflictions. 

The blessed, it is true, are exceedingly displeased with sin 
and hate it most vehemently. But there can be detestation and 
hatred of evil without any grief or sadness of the soul. Hence 
God, though hating sin with infinite hatred, is not, and cannot, 
on that account, be afflicted with any sorrow or grief. 

323. Here it might be objected that God indeed cannot be 
subject to grief or sadness of any kind, because He is im- 
mutable — "with whom there is no change nor shadow of altera- 
tion"; 3 but we cannot perhaps say the same of His creatures, 
though blessed in heaven. 

We answer that a communicated immutability is actually pos- 
sessed by the saints, for their happiness, being a participation 
of divine happiness itself, is likewise free from all sadness and 
grief of any sort. 

Again, can the blessed be saddened by the knowledge they will 
certainly possess of the reprobation of some of their relatives and 
former friends? 

Our answer is a decided negative, justified by the following 
reasons : 

324. As grace does not destroy nature but perfects it, so a 
special affection will be cherished by the saints toward their 
earthly parents, relatives, and friends, for whose salvation they 
will unceasingly intercede before the throne of God. Yet, if 
they sin, if they throw away their opportunities of grace, if they 
rob themselves of their right to the heavenly inheritance and die 
impenitent, they become God's enemies, the objects of His infi- 
nite hatred. Hear what the Royal Psalmist and the Book of 
Wisdom say of sinners: "Thou, O Lord, hatest all the workers 
of iniquity. " 4 "To God the wicked man and his wickedness 
are hateful alike." 5 Now, as the will of the blessed is per- 
fectly conformed to that of God, in whom they see nothing but 
what is wise, holy, and just, whilst they cannot hate what He 
loves, neither can they love what He hates. Seeing in the dam- 
nation of the reprobates, whoever they be, the result of their 
own obstinate will, resisting the call and advances of divine grace 
and mercy even to the bitter end, they cannot but approve the 
action of God's justice in the punishment inflicted upon them, 

2 Ps. xxxvi. 13. 3 James i. 17. * Ps. v. 7. s Wis. xiv. 9. 



214 Heaven the Remunerative Sanction 

and they will feel no sadness whatever on that account ; and fully 
approving the sentence of the Just Judge, they will exclaim with 
the Prophet David: ''Thou art just, Lord; and Thy judg- 
ment is right. ' ' 6 

A few additional remarks taken from that charming little 
volume, ''The Happiness of Heaven," by the late Father F. 
Boudreaux, S. J., will confirm the truth of our statements. 

325. To the question, "Will the knowledge that some of our 
own are lost mar our happiness in heaven ? " the author gives a 
peremptory negative answer for various reasons, which are here 
briefly summed up : Our happiness even in this world does not 
depend on the happiness of those who are bound to us by the 
ties of kindred or friendship, especially when their unhappiness 
and sufferings are caused by their own misdeeds. With greater 
reason, the same is the case in heaven. Those of our own, who 
die in sin, are disowned by Almighty God, and forever banished 
from His kingdom. And, as their wickedness is the work of 
their own hands, it cannot disturb or mar the happiness of the 
blessed, who will fully approve the just sentence of a most just 
Judge. In heaven the blessed are entirely free from the preju- 
dices and passions which now so much interfere with the correct- 
ness and impartiality of our judgments. Hence, clothed as they 
are with the justice and sanctity of God Himself, seeing the fair- 
ness of His judgments, they fully ratify the sentence pronounced 
on impenitent sinners, which they know to be perfectly just and 
proportionate to their deserts. In heaven they espouse God's 
own cause, and regulate all their thoughts and sentiments ac- 
cording to His holy will. Therefore, it will be impossible for 
them to cherish any esteem and love for those whom the Lord 
has justly rejected from His embrace, because they stubbornly 
and obstinately persisted in their sins, and died at enmity with 
their Creator. 

To the preceding reflections we may add the following : What 
happens sometimes here on earth? Suppose that an unworthy 
son, or an unworthy daughter should become guilty of some in- 
famous, scandalous crime. Would not the father of such chil- 
dren be entirely justified in cutting them off from all parental 
inheritance and expelling them from the home which they have 
dishonored by their misdeeds ? And would not the whole family 
— mother, brothers, and sisters — fully approve the action of the 
indignant parent? It is plain that, from that moment, the ab- 
sence of the criminal relatives would not produce the least regret, 
and that the family would not care to meet them so long as they 
persevere in their wicked ways. God Almighty, moved by His 
justice, cuts off the impenitent, obstinate sinners from the heav- 
enly inheritance, excludes them forever from His presence, and 

e Ps. cxviii. 137. 



As Divinely Revealed 215 

all the blessed, fully realizing the horror of sin and approving 
the sentence of the Supreme Judge, can feel no regret for the 
damnation of their kin and the punishment which their rebellion 
and impenitence justly deserved. 

326. Another source of happiness is derived from the fact that 
the blessed can no longer commit sin, as they are confirmed in 
grace. First of all, should they ever sin, they would at once 
forfeit their beatitude, which is entirely incompatible with the 
presence of sin. Now, Holy Scripture assures us that heavenly 
happiness cannot be lost, therefore nothing, either on the part of 
the creature or on the part of God, can ever put an end to it. 
Hear the assuring words of the Prince of the Apostles : ' ' Blessed 
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according 
to His great mercy, hath regenerated us into a lively hope by the 
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance 
incorruptible and undefiled, and that cannot fade, reserved in 
heaven for you. ' ' 7 The heavenly inheritance is said to be in- 
corruptible because it can never perish, or cease to be ; it is un- 
defiled because its possessors shall ever be free from all stain of 
guilt ; it cannot fade because it shall never lose its vigor, vitality, 
and beauty, ever remaining in its integrity, like a flower in full 
bloom. 

Secondly, if the blessed could ever fall away from God's love 
by the commission of sin, the inspired divine words registered 
in the Apocalypse would no longer be true: "And God shall 
wipe away all tears from their eyes : and death shall be no more. 
Nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more; for 
the former things are passed away. ' ' 8 

Theologians, under the leadership of St. Thomas, hold that 
the beatific vision is the radical cause of the soul's utter in- 
ability to sin. First, because the beatific vision moves the will 
to love God above all things, and most perfectly; a love abso- 
lutely incompatible with any sinful act, whether mortal or 
venial. The sight of God presents to the human will its highest, 
most attractive good, so that no reason, no motive shall ever in- 
duce it to cease to love Him. The same truth may be shown by 
this other reflection. 

The greater the good the more forcibly is the human will drawn 
to love it, particularly if its excellence be clearly known. And 
if the good be infinite, containing in itself the fulness of all pos- 
sible goods, it will, so to speak, attract the will infinitely, so that 
the tendency to it will be practically irresistible. It is plain 
that in the presence of such attraction toward God it will be 
absolutely impossible for the human will to prefer any other 
object to Him; hence the impossibility for the blessed ever to 
fall away from God's love by the commission of sin. 

7 1 Peter i. 3, 4. 8 Apoc. xxi. 4. 



216 Heaven the Remunerative Sanction 

What we have stated above is a dogma of Catholic faith, 
teaching us that neither the good angels nor the human inhabi- 
tants of the heavenly mansions can commit sin. 

The several truths we have stated in this chapter and in the one 
preceding have been asserted and denned by Pontifical au- 
thority. (See constitution of Pope Benedict XII on the Beatific 
Vision, issued January 29, a. d. 1336. For the full document 
consult D. Enchiridion, p. 216, n. 530.) 



CHAPTER V 

THE SAINTS IN HEAVEN, THOUGH PERFECTLY FREE, 
WILL NEVER COMMIT SIN 

327. The statement that the blessed in heaven, though retain- 
ing their freedom unimpaired, will never commit sin, is fur- 
ther confirmed by the following considerations: 

1. In the first place, owing to their happy condition, they are 
able to make such use of their liberty as is implied in the follow- 
ing excellent definition of that precious gift : 

" To be free is to do what one wills, whilst doing what is right. ' ' 
The possibility of doing evil is a veritable imperfection, a 
weakness, a want of power in the human will here on earth. 
This may be illustrated by examples taken from man's condi- 
tion in the present life. For instance, no sensible man would 
boast of having the power of becoming ill, or of possessing an 
intellect capable of reasoning erroneously, of drawing false 
conclusions from correct principles. So we must say that the 
ability to choose evil, of wandering away from our last end, far 
from being a true power, a perfection of the human will, is, on 
the contrary, a real defect, an imperfection inhering in it here 
below. When we are asked, "How does it happen that the 
angels and saints in heaven, retaining the full use of their lib- 
erty, are nevertheless incapable of making an ill use of it by 
committing sin?" we have at hand more than one satisfactory 
reply. 

As every abuse of liberty is the result of imperfection, it is 
plain that when divine grace improves nature so far as to re- 
move from it all imperfections, no wrong use of liberty, and, 
therefore, no sin, will be possible. This is exactly the happy 
state of the blessed in heavenly glory. 

2. A second reason is derived from the fact that the saints 
possess, among other prerogatives, a gift that is not shared by 
men upon earth, however holy and learned they may be, and 
that is perfect knowledge. Man dwelling upon earth is com- 
paratively ignorant and often sees truth only partially and im- 
perfectly. We humans, as St. Paul says: "See now through 



As Divinely Revealed 217 

a glass in a dark manner. ' ' x We live by faith, 2 and safeguard 
ourselves against error and deception in spiritual things by 
listening and trusting to the voice of God, through His duly 
accredited witness, the Church. 

328. But the blessed move in a quite different environment, 
and find themselves in far better surroundings. Admitted, as 
they are, to the beatific vision, to the clear, unclouded contem- 
plation of God's infinite wisdom, they live in the full blaze of 
celestial light. Now, since the will is to a very great extent 
controlled and influenced by the intellect, it follows that the will 
of a citizen of heaven, brilliantly enlightened by beholding God 
face to face, will act very differently from that of the poor in- 
habitants of earth. 

If it were given us to know as clearly as the saints do, we 
should never be even so much as tempted to do wrong. Evil 
seen thus in its true light would lose its very power to attract 
us or to allure us from the strict path of duty ; nor could it ever 
place itself in competition with virtue. 

3. Even in our exile here on earth, God in His wisdom and 
bounty has so essentially made us for what is good that even 
in spite of our imperfect knowledge we cannot wish and seek 
evil as evil, but only under the aspect of good. This is the 
doctrine of Catholic theologians, whose leader, St. Thomas, says : 
"Voluntas nihil potest appetere nisi sub ratione boni." 

On this account, before it is possible for our will to seek evil, 
evil must be disguised, transformed and dressed up so as to 
assume, at least, the appearance of good. But it is plain that 
in heaven no such deception is possible; there evil can never 
wear the livery of good, nor can vice ever hide itself under the 
mask of virtue. Consequently, it can never be desired or 
sought after. Sin, therefore, becomes an impossibility for the 
blissful inhabitants of the heavenly kingdom. 

329. One of the gifts which angels and saints possess in para- 
dise is wisdom in the highest degree, and they possess it in pro- 
portion to their merits. 

The soul of a child that takes its flight to heaven imme- 
diately after baptism is at once adorned with greater knowl- 
edge, both natural and supernatural, than could ever be pos- 
sessed by any man upon earth, King Solomon not excluded. 
The angels and the elect are so wise, so perfectly enlightened, 
that we cannot entertain the idea that they would ever consent 
to an essentially foolish act. Such a thing is inconceivable, 
unthinkable. What act of folly, of madness, and of asinine im- 
becility can for one moment compare with the act of sin, particu- 
larly deadly sin? Considered in itself, to commit sin is by far 
the most senseless and irrational act of which any creature can 
possibly be guilty. Hence we understand why the blessed, shar- 

i 1 Cor. xiii. 12. 2 Rom. i. 17. 



218 Heaven the Remunerative Sanction 

ing as they do in some manner the wisdom of God Himself, can 
never be guilty of acts which would make wisdom blush crimson, 
and could be suggested only by a brainless folly. When we are 
in heaven we will see things as God sees them, and can therefore 
estimate them according to their real worth; then we need have 
no fear of being deceived or misled, but will be able to exercise 
our full, unhampered liberty, knowing with absolute certainty 
that it will never lead us astray, nor induce us to choose evil in- 
stead of good, or vice instead of virtue. 

We see, then, that free will among mortals, who possess 
no adequate knowledge, must always carry with it at least the 
possibility of sin ; that is, the possibility of an evil choice. For 
this reason Holy Scripture calls him blessed, "that could have 
transgressed and hath not transgressed ; and could do evil things 
and hath not done them." 3 It is, then, plain that free will 
in the blessed, whose intelligence is endowed with perfect knowl- 
edge illumined by the light of glory (lumine gloriae) can never 
make an unreasonable, foolish choice; in other words, they can 
never commit sin; for as theologians express it, they are con- 
firmed in grace. 

330. These considerations suggest at once the reason for the 
dishonorable appellative applied by Holy Writ to sinners. They 
are designated as fools. Thus, "A wise man feareth and de- 
clineth from evil ; the fool leapeth over and is confident. ' ' 4 
' ' He that deviseth to do evil shall be called a fool. ' ' 5 But 
what is more striking still is the fact that this is precisely what 
the wicked call themselves. Comparing, in the next world, their 
wretched state with the happiness of the saints in glory, they 
exclaim : ' ' We fools esteemed their life madness and their end 
without honor. Behold, how they are numbered among the chil- 
dren of God, and their lot is among the saints. Such things 
as these the sinners said in hell. ' ' 6 

And passing from the Old to the New Testament, let us hear 
what is said of the rich man, intent only on eating, drinking 
and making good cheer. "But God said to him: Thou fool, 
this night do they require thy soul of thee, and whose shall those 
things be, which thou hast provided ? " 7 

It is indeed an awful thing to be called a fool by Almighty 
God ! And yet this is the appellative that every sinner rightly 
deserves. 

The following quotation from the celebrated theologian, Leon- 
ard Lessius, S. J., is here given as a fitting conclusion to our re- 
marks on the question we have discussed : 

"Angels and saints in heaven cannot sin because the beatific 
vision presents to their mental faculties — memory, intellect, and 
will — Almighty God as their supreme good, so that there can be 

s Ecclus. xxxi. 10. 4 Prov. xiv. 16. 5 Prov. xxiv. 8. 

6 Wis. v. 4, 5, 14. 7 Luke xii. 19, 20. 



As Divinely Revealed 219 

no reason whatever why they should cease from ardently loving 
Him. They clearly see that He is worthy of their utmost love, 
as He contains in Himself, in the highest possible degree, the 
fulness of every good, which He shares with them according to 
their merits and capacity. Hence, as they would not be de- 
prived even for a moment of such infinite good, it becomes ab- 
solutely impossible for them to commit sin, the greatest evil, 
the only thing that can rob them of their perfect happiness, the 
enjoyment of the sight and possession of God." 8 

See in Ecclesiastical 'Record, March, 1913, p. 264, the article 
on "Sin and Free Will," by Rt. Rev. John S. Vaughan, D. D., 
from which we borrowed most of the valuable thoughts and re- 
flections contained in this chapter. 



CHAPTER VI 

CAN HEAVENLY BEATITUDE EVER BE LOST ? 

This chapter is intimately connected with the last part of the 
preceding one; but this question deserves a special treatment, 
for we may imagine the following supposition: Though the 
blessed, being confirmed in grace, can never commit sin, yet their 
beatitude, without any fault on their part, might come to an end. 
But, thank God, such a supposition shall never be verified, for 
God Himself furnishes to us in Holy "Writ most explicit assur- 
ances to the contrary. 

331. A few Scriptural citations will suffice: " Blessed are 
they that dwell in Thy house, Lord; they shall praise Thee 
forever and ever." 1 "The just shall live forever more, and 
their reward is with the Lord. " 2 " Though in the sight 
of men they suffered torments, their hope is full of immor- 
tality." 3 "The just shall go into everlasting life." 4 ' [ That 
which is at present momentary and light of our tribula- 
tion worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight 
of glory. While we look not at the things which are seen, but 
at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen 
are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. ' ' 5 

It is worthy of remark that the Apostle in the text cited uses 
the epithet "light" for the sufferings of the present life, and 
attributes weight to the glory which is to reward them; and he 
ascribes only a moment to the duration of the former, and an 
entire eternity to that of the latter. Who does not admire God 's 
unbounded generosity in decreeing so rich a remuneration for 
services so brief and trivial ! 6 

332. This same truth is proved as follows: If the good in 
s Opuscula. i Ps. lxxxiii. 5. 2 Wis. v. 16. s Wis. iii. 4. 

* Matt. xxv. 46. s 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18. « See Luke xvii. 10. 



220 Heaven the Remunerative Sanction 

which beatitude consists may be lost, either the blessed know it, 
or, ignoring it, they believe that it will never be lost. In the 
first supposition, knowing that they will some time be deprived 
of their happiness, they will from this very moment cease to be 
happy, and be afflicted with a most intense grief, proportionate 
to the greatness of the good to be forfeited. 

In the other supposition, that they ignore the fact of their 
future loss, they cannot be happy for two reasons : 

First, because true, perfect happiness must exclude every 
evil, and should consequently exclude their erroneous belief, the 
error of their intellect. Secondly, because their so-called happi- 
ness could not be perfect, as it would lack its chief and essen- 
tial constituent, that is, the sure knowledge and conviction that 
it is to be eternal, just as the principal suffering of the repro- 
bates is paused by the knowledge confirmed in both judgments, 
the particular and the general, that their torments shall never 
end. 

From the preceding remarks it follows that to constitute 
perfect happiness the following elements most concur: namely, 
union with and love of God, with knowledge and firm convic- 
tion of their interminable duration, thus producing a perfect 
security and exemption from all anxiety and fear of ever losing 
what they possess. Therefore, the eternity of heaven's bliss is 
not only its crowning glory, but also an essential constituent of 
that indescribable joy which now fills the souls of the blessed. 

One of the necessary attributes of God is immutability, that 
is, total absence and impossibility of change ; a perfection shared 
in some degree by the saints, who, as St. Peter writes, 7 are made 
partakers of the divine nature itself, consequently of the divine 
immutability. 8 



CHAPTER VII 

WHEN DOES THE HAPPINESS OF THE SOUL OF THE 
BLESSED BEGIN? 

333. The Sovereign Pontiff Benedict XII (a.d. 1334) put an 
end to all controversy on this much debated question by the fol- 
lowing definition, an article of Catholic faith. In his pronounce- 
ment the following several points are distinctly stated and 
clearly defined : * 

1. According to the common divine ordinance, the souls of 
the just that are entirely cleansed from all sins after Christ's 
Ascension are at once received into heaven and associated to 
the company of the angels. 

7 2 Peter i. 4. 8 See St. Thomas, la 2ae, qu. v, art. 4. 

iD. Enchiridion, p. 216. 



As Divinely Revealed 221 

2. All such souls see immediately the Divine Essence mani- 
festing itself to them clearly and openly. 

3. By such vision and fruition those souls are made truly 
happy, enjoying eternal life and rest. 

4. Such vision excludes at once the exercise of the virtues of 
faith and hope, and perfects that of charity. 

5. This vision shall continue without interruption till final 
judgment, and hence for all eternity. 

Similar decrees were issued by the Council of Florence (a. d. 
1439 ). 2 

Several Scriptural passages are here quoted in confirmation 
of the above defined truth. St. Paul, writing to the Philippians, 
speaks of himself as "having a desire to be dissolved and to be 
with Christ, ' ' 3 by which words he evidently intimates that the 
just, immediately after their body's dissolution, are admitted to 
enjoy the company of Christ. Now, to be with Christ is to par- 
take of His heavenly glory, which essentially consists in the 
beatific vision. 

The same cheering truth is pointed out by Christ Himself 
in the following words, literally applicable to the just: "I go 
to prepare a place for you ; I will come again and will take you 
to Myself, that where I am, you also may be. " 4 

The tradition of the Church, the all but unanimous consent 
of the Fathers, the general belief of the faithful, and the uni- 
versal practice of the invocation of the saints confirm the same 
dogmatic truths. 

As to the invocation of saints, it is plain that, if they were 
not actually enjoying the beatific vision, enabling them to know 
the events of this world, they could have no knowledge of our 
prayers and of our needs, and it would be useless to invoke 
them. 

St. Justin Martyr (a. d. 210) in his work on "Orthodox 
Faith" (n. 75), states the Catholic doctrine as follows: "After 
death the just are immediately separated from the wicked, and 
to each is assigned the lot he has deserved. The souls of the 
just are admitted to paradise, where they will enjoy the sight 
and company of the angels, and the vision of Christ the Saviour. ' ' 

334. Three reasons may be here adduced to prove the fact of 
the immediate possession of the heavenly glory by holy souls on 
their departure from this world 

1. When the soul is freed from the body and found wholly 
pure, it is not less capable of the beatific vision than it will be 
when reunited to its risen glorious body after the general 
resurrection. As the intellect alone is capable of seeing God 
face to face, the soul is in this respect entirely independent of 
the body, and consequently it can partake of the beatific vision, 
whether separated or united with it When once admitted to 

2 Ibid. p. 235. 3 Philipp. i. 23. * John xiv. 3. 



222 Heaven the Bemuneratwe Sanction 

God 's sight, the blessed souls easily and cheerfully bear the post- 
ponement of the restoration of their body to the judgment 
day, since the possession of God makes them already perfectly 
happy, so far as the essential happiness is concerned. 

2. The good angels received heavenly happiness immediately 
after the termination of their time of merit and probation. 
With men death is the end of both their trial and merit. If 
therefore they have no expiation to endure, their souls will at 
once be admitted to the heavenly reward. 

3. As stated in the dogmatic decree of Benedict XII (a. d. 
1336), according to the common ordinance of God, the souls 
of those that die in actual mortal sin immediately after death 
descend into hell, there to be tormented by the infernal pains, 
as intimated by Christ in His Gospel: "The rich man also 
died and he was buried in hell. " 5 So the souls of the just are 
likewise rewarded immediately after death, particularly if we 
take into account the fact that the Lord is more inclined to re- 
ward than to punish. 6 

As to the Scriptural texts which insinuate that the crown or 
recompense of the just is reserved for the Judgment Day, they 
all refer to the full reward to be bestowed on the just both on 
account of the good they accomplished even after death through 
the works they did during life, and of the additional glory 
accruing to them from their risen bodies, as vouched by St. Paul's 
words: "For we must all be manifested before the judgment 
seat of Christ, that every one may receive the proper things of 
the body, according as he hath done, whether it be good or evil." 7 

The same truth is referred to by the blessed Saviour when, as 
we read in St. Luke's Gospel, He said: "Recompense shall be 
made thee at the resurrection of the just. ' ' 8 

By bearing these remarks in mind we can easily explain the 
following texts, sometimes alleged against our thesis : * * As to 
the rest," says St. Paul, "there is laid up for me a crown of 
justice, which the Lord, the just Judge, will render to me in 
that day " ; 9 that is, on the day of his approaching dissolution 
or death : and on the last judgment day by the glory of the risen 
body and by the additional accidental reward due to him for the 
reasons alleged above. 10 

335. To the arguments alleged above we add the following re- 
flections, which go far to show how eminently just, fitting, and 
reasonable is the divine ordinance according to which the souls 
of the elect, if found worthy, are at once admitted to the pos- 
session of heavenly happiness. 

This will clearly appear if we recall the gloomy, dishearten- 
ing consequences following from the Lutheran doctrine, which 
teaches that the souls of the just, whose lot is decided immedi- 

s Luke xvi. 22. e D. Enchiridion, p. 216. t 2 Cor. v. 10. s Luke xiv. 14. 

9 2 Tim. iv. 8. io See St. Thomas, Supplem., p. iiil, q. 93, art. 1. 



As Divinely Revealed 223 

ately after death, will remain in an unconscious, dormant state 
till the last Judgment Day, when they will enter heaven. What ! 
Is that to be the condition of those whom we are exhorted to 
invoke as citizens of paradise and the protectors of us as yet 
pilgrims upon earth? What! The saints, the pure souls who 
have suffered so much and labored so long for God, the heroic 
martyrs who have sacrificed their lives for His sake, are they to 
remain sleeping for perhaps ten or twenty thousand years? 
And Almighty God, whom they loved so tenderly, who is more 
inclined to reward than to punish, will He allow untold cen- 
turies to pass before bestowing on His faithful servants their 
well merited recompense? What becomes of Christ's encour- 
aging announcement registered on His Gospel: "Do penance, 
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand " ? 1X And what becomes 
of that most consoling dogma of Christian faith, the invocation 
of saints and their intercession in our behalf ? According to our 
opponents' view, that cherished belief becomes a meaningless 
practice and a senseless superstition. Those souls, we are told, 
are not annihilated ; they still live, but they are wholly inactive ; 
they sleep; they are utterly incapable of thinking and loving. 
They will therefore resume their intellectual, spiritual func- 
tions only when their bodies shall rise from the dust after thou- 
sands and thousands of years. This was the error of some early 
heretics, such as Tertullian and Vigilantius ; an error revived and 
reproduced by Luther and Calvin, the two heresiarchs of the six- 
teenth century. 12 We are not surprised, then, at learning that 
so absurd a doctrine has been condemned by the Popes and Coun- 
cils of Holy Church. For a like reason the Twenty-third Propo- 
sition of Rosmini came under the ban of Leo XIII, December 14, 
1887. 13 



CHAPTER VIII 

CONDITION OF THE BLESSED SOUL AFTER THE 
BODY'S RESURRECTION 

336. Here is presented to our mind a question on which there 
are two opinions prevailing among Catholic theologians. Some 
hold that the blessed souls, after the resurrection, will not see 
God more clearly and more perfectly than they did before it. 
They allege on their side the authority of Pope Benedict XII 
who, in his decree on the beatific vision defines that this vision 
will be continued after the last judgment, not that it will be 
increased. Other theologians, who invoke the authority of St. 
Thomas, claim that, owing to the influence of the glorified body, 

ii Matt. iv. 17. 12 See Bellarmine, De Ecclesia Triumphante, c. ii. 

13 D. Enchiridion, p. 511. 



224 Heaven the Remunerative Sanction 

there will be some increase in the beatitude of the soul arising 
from a more perfect enjoyment of the beatific vision. Those, 
however, who quote St. Thomas as favoring their side, should not 
overlook the following citation from that Holy Doctor: " After 
the resurrection the happiness of the blessed souls will increase 
extensively (extensive) but not intensively (intensive).''' 1 As 
to the testimony of Benedict XII, it cannot be said to favor 
either side, for he simply asserts the fact of the continuance of 
the beatific vision after the resurrection without entering into 
the question of its possible increase after the last judgment. 2 
But both schools maintain that after the resurrection human 
creatures will enjoy a heaven of greater happiness, not in- 
tensively, but extensively, inasmuch as besides the essential hap- 
piness, consisting of the beatific vision proper of the soul, they 
will moreover possess the additional delights and glory of the 
glorified bodies. In this connection, the saintly theological 
writer, Leonard Lessius, S. J., calls attention to this gratifying 
fact ; that man 's beatitude will surpass that of the highest angels, 
and might well excite their envy, were such a thing possible in 
that region of perfect bliss. He reasons thus: "Man will pos- 
sess something more than the angelic spirits, and enjoy there- 
fore a greater bliss. For he will be equal to them in the gifts 
of impassibility, agility, penetration, and movements; in the 
vision, love and blissful fruition of God, and in the perfect 
knowledge of both spiritual and material beings ; besides all this, 
he will have the glory of the body and enjoy the manifold de- 
lights of the sensitive faculties, which the angels do not possess. 
Hence he will have a greater bliss, at least, extensively, for his 
soul's beatitude will redound on the body and that of the body 
on the soul. ' ' 3 

Let us now consider the loveliness and beauty of the place 
where the just are to dwell forever, which must certainly be as 
superior to the richest and most sumptuous abodes of this world 
as heavenly things are above all earthly grandeur. The blessed, 
knowing that the magnificent dwelling-place which the Lord has 
prepared for them is to be their everlasting home, are over- 
whelmed with indescribable joy. Heaven is moreover a society; 
the most delightful and most perfect of all societies. What an 
exceeding pleasure to live, with the sweetest intimacy in the 
company of the most beautiful, most pure, most noble souls, 
which unite in themselves, the splendor of genius, goodness with 
all its attractions holiness with all its charms ! 

337, Admirable indeed will be the beauty of each one; the 
just, as the Divine Saviour assures us, "shall shine as the sun in 
the kingdom of their Father. ' ' 4 What exceeding pleasure will 

i la 2ae q. 4, art. 5, ad 5um. 

■i See Palmieri, De Novissimis, p. 180. D. Enchiridion, p. 216. 

s De Div. Nom. vol. iii. c. 2, 3. 4 Matt. xiii. 43. 



As Divinely Revealed 225 

all experience in beholding that immense gathering of the elect ; 
veritable heroes, who triumphed over the world, the devil, and 
the flesh! The least among them surpasses in dignity the 
proudest earthly monarch that ever lived. An additional most 
charming delight will be enjoyed by the mutual familiarity and 
friendship among them. They will know one another perfectly, 
and their love for each other will be inferior only to that with 
which they will love God, the Author and Giver of all goods. 

And what shall be their perpetual occupations? To con- 
template God's infinite beauty, and that of His countless crea- 
tures ; to love, to praise, to thank Him for His benefits of the past, 
as well as for those of the future. 

An inexplicable source of gladness will be produced in them 
from the consideration, ever before their mind, of their deliver- 
ance through God 's mercy from the all but infinite evil of eternal 
damnation, and of their present and ever-enduring gift of their 
salvation. 

Another source of inconceivable joy will be the mutual contem- 
plation of the extraordinary gifts and endowments of the glori- 
fied bodies, free from all imperfection, beautiful beyond compari- 
son with any earthly being, immortal in their duration, and 
fairer than our first progenitors in the days of their primeval 
innocence. 

338. But let us still linger on the study and contemplation of 
the magnificent destiny held out to us by Christian faith; a 
destiny replete and overflowing with consolation, because it com- 
pletely satisfies the highest aspirations of our heart. Following 
the line of thought of Msgr. John S. Vaughan, 5 we find that we 
cannot be perfectly happy here below, because God has made 
us for something immeasurably more sublime, than anything the 
world can offer. Man's heart, mind, and affections are so vast, 
so boundless, that nothing less than the Creator's infinite great- 
ness can satisfy them. Should, then, man, made for the solid 
goods of eternity, be satisfied with the baubles of time ? Should 
he, who is made for heaven, be contented with earth? Being 
made for the Creator, shall he be satisfied with mere creatures? 
Will the soul, fashioned and fitted to enjoy the infinite, care only 
for the finite? As God has made our hearts too big for any 
creature to fill, He meant to fill them Himself. St. Augustine, 
grasping the full significance of man 's future destiny, exclaimed : 
"Our hearts, Lord, are made for Thee, and they are restless 
until they repose in Thee." These sentiments are thus ex- 
pressed by the Royal Psalmist : "I shall be satisfied, Lord, 
when Thy glory shall appear." 6 

The happiness of every creature consists precisely in the at- 
tainment of the end for which it is made, as its greatest misery 
is incurred by the forfeiture of that end. 

s Happiness and Beauty. 6 p s . xv i. 15. 



226 Heaven the Remunerative Sanction 

As all the wants, appetites, and cravings of earthly, living 
creatures distinct from man can be completely satisfied in this 
world, we rightly conclude that the happiness, whatever it be, 
for which they were created is found here. Now, it is plain that 
this cannot be said of the tendencies, aspirations, and cravings 
of man ; hence, we must logically infer that he has to look else- 
where for the full realization of his hopes. 

Even the poorest amongst us, a veritable outcast and beggar, 
who does not know to-day where he will find food and shelter to- 
morrow, may be one of God's darlings, with a soul adorned with 
supernatural grace. Here he may be insulted, despised, and 
badly treated ; but neither the wicked men of earth nor the devils 
of hell can deprive him of the right to the happiness of heaven. 
And as sure as he lives, if he does not himself cancel his right to 
heaven by sin, he will, like another St. Benedict Labre, be re- 
ceived into the mansions of the blessed to enjoy a happiness of 
which we can form here no adequate conception. Similar sen- 
timents are eloquently expressed by St. John Chrysostom in his 
comments on Psalm v. 6. 

Of this ineffable bliss thus speaks St. Paul: "Eye hath not 
seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man 
what things God hath prepared for them that love Him. " 7 If 
the joys of heaven could be described in human language, they 
would naturally differ very little from those of earth, and, on 
that account, they would scarcely be worth fighting for. 

The delights of paradise are so intense that they fill our souls 
to their utmost capacity. As Holy Scripture assures us, heaven 
means the complete freedom from all pain, sorrow, disease, and 
death: "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and 
death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow 
shall be any more, for the former things are passed away." 8 

Moreover, heavenly happiness means the full enjoyment of 
every conceivable gratification worthy of and suitable to that 
abode of perfect holiness. Besides the immensely superior de- 
lights of the faculties of the soul, every sense of the body, after 
the resurrection, will be thrilled with the most exquisite pleas- 
ures. All this for the best of reasons, since their cause is to be 
traced not to mere creatures, but to Him who is the inexhaustible 
source of all goodness, pleasure and joy. 

Moreover, we must reflect that the Lord does not speak of the 
joy of heaven as a joy that is to enter into us, but rather as a 
joy into which we ourselves must enter. "Enter thou into the 
joy of thy Lord." 9 

339. As the author of "The Happiness of Heaven" wisely 
remarks, to meditate often and seriously on our final blissful 
destiny, besides deepening our knowledge of God and of the 
things He has prepared for those that love Him, exercises a won- 

7 1 Cor. ii. 9. s Apoc. xxi. 4. 9 Matt. xxv. 21. 



As Divinely Revealed 227 

derful power in detaching our hearts from the transitory honors 
and pleasures of this world. Such reflections, moreover, arouse 
in our souls an unquenchable thirst for the vision and possession 
of God, while they infuse into us a new courage to battle man- 
fully against all the obstacles besetting our path in the pursuit 
of virtue. Such meditations fill us also with a laudable and 
noble ambition of reaching the highest union with God, which 
it is possible for us to merit through the assistance of divine 
grace. This was the ambition of the saints, and should be ours 
also. It was this desire for a most intimate union with God that 
caused them to deny themselves even the most innocent pleasures 
of this world, and cheerfully to undergo sufferings the bare re- 
cital of which makes our poor nature shudder. They were 
thoroughly convinced that, as St. Paul writes, "The sufferings 
of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to 
come, that shall be revealed in us. ' ' 10 

In Chapter XXXVII of her life St. Theresa speaks thus: "I 
would not lose, through any fault of mine, the least degree of 
further enjoyment. I even go so far as to declare that if the 
choice were offered to me whether I would rather remain subject 
to all the afflictions of this world, even to the end of it, and then 
ascend by that means to the possession of little more glory in 
heaven; or else without any suffering at all enjoy a little less 
glory, I would most willingly accept the troubles and afflictions, 
so long as they would secure to me a greater degree of heavenly 
happiness. ' ' 

Here is the ambition of a great saint. It is not after crowns, 
after the honors, and glories of this world that she sighs and 
aspires, but after a single degree of higher enjoyment in heaven ; 
and to obtain it, she is willing to remain in sufferings and pains 
even to the end of time. 

THE SOUL'S SOLILOQUY AT DEATH 

Vital spark of heavenly flame ! 
Quit, oh, quit this mortal frame ! 
Trembling, hoping, ling 'ring, flying! 
Oh, the pain, the bliss of dying ! 
Come, fond Nature, cease thy strife 
And let me languish into life ! 

Hark, they whisper — angels say: 
"Sister spirit, come away." 
What is this absorbs me quite; 
Steals my senses, shuts my sight, 
Drowns my spirits, draws my breath? 
Tell me, my soul, can this be death? 
10 Rom. viii. 18. 



228 Heaven the Remunerative Sanction 

The world recedes, it disappears ; 

Heaven opens to my eyes — my ears 

With sound seraphic ring 

Lend, lend your wings ; I mount, I fly ! 

O Grave, where is thy victory ? 

O Death, where is thy sting ? 

— Pope. 

Dear reader, through the boundless mercy, goodness, and love 
of God, you are destined to heaven's indescribable happiness. 
This is to be your reward for accomplishing a short and easy 
task, doing God 's holy will ; and it will be yours forever if you 
carry it out conscientiously and perseveringly. That our Divine 
Lord will condescend to crown our little efforts in His service is 
made plain by the words addressed to each of the blessed as he 
reaches the threshold of eternity : ' ' Well done, good and faith- 
ful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I 
will place thee over many things. Enter thou into the joy of 
thy Lord." 11 

At the conclusion of this chapter, to use the words of Msgr. 
Vaughan, 12 "we cannot do better than raise our hearts and 
thoughts to Him who rules our destinies and pray, with Cardinal 
Newman, that He may support us all day long, till the shades 
lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, 
and the fever of life is over, and our work is done ! Then in His 
mercy may He give us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace 
at the last." 

CHAPTER IX 

THE BEATITUDE OF THE BODY 

THE GENERAL RESURRECTION FORETOLD IN THE 

OLD TESTAMENT 

340. In the previous chapters we spoke at considerable length 
of the beatitude of the soul promised by the Lord to His faith- 
ful servants. In this and subsequent chapters we shall treat of 
the beatitude of the body reserved to the just when rising glori- 
ously on the last judgment day. Hence we are here exclusively 
concerned with what Christ calls the resurrection unto life, 
proper to those who have died in the Lord, united with Him by 
the possession of sanctifying grace at the moment of their depar- 
ture from this world. 

341. Three marvelous things occur in the final resurrection 
which prove it to be truly miraculous and absolutely super- 
natural ; a privilege, to which the just, however holy, can lay no 
claim : 

ii Matt. xxv. 21. 12 Loc. cit. 



As Divinely Revealed 229 

1. The body's reconstruction from the dust — an effect said 
to be against nature, that is, contrary to the ordinary course of 
nature's forces and laws which can destroy things, but cannot 
restore them to their primitive state. 

2. The reunion of the soul with the risen, perfectly recon- 
structed body — a fact conformable to nature inasmuch as the 
soul naturally desires to be united with such a body. 

3. The lasting, perpetual union of the two constituents of 
man's personality — a marvel entirely above nature, as the cor- 
ruptible and separable becomes incorruptible and inseparable. 

It is plain that only the intervention of God's omnipotent 
power can accomplish the astounding miracle of the resurrec- 
tion. 1 

Is it to be deemed impossible that God's almighty power, who 
called a non-existing world into being, should reunite the lifeless 
dust with the soul ? Is it contrary to nature that the soul should 
be once more united to the same body that it was originally 
destined to inform? Is it irrational to conceive of man enter- 
ing upon eternity clothed in that same complete humanity of 
which he was possessed here on earth, and which, according to 
St. Paul, was the decisive factor in his eternal destiny? "We 
must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, that 
every one may receive the proper things of the body, according 
as he hath done, whether it be good or evil. ' ' 2 

Though, as we shall soon see, all shall rise again, yet it is only 
of the resurrection of the just that the gloriously risen Christ 
was the model, the pattern, and the exemplar. The mighty work 
of redemption will then be perfect and complete, for Christ shall 
have remedied and repaired all the evils of sin. The evils of the 
soul, which are far the greatest and the most fatal, are now 
remedied at once, instantaneously, through the sacramental 
channels, conveying to the soul the merits of Christ 's passion and 
death, and thereby restoring to it sanctifying grace, the super- 
natural, divine gift, which alone can entitle us to the possession 
of eternal bliss. He remedies the evils of the body by delivering 
it from all the penalties and consequences of both original and 
personal sins, and restoring it to life immortal. Referring to 
this astounding miracle of divine power, St. Paul thus writes in 
his Epistle to the Romans: "We ourselves groan within our- 
selves, waiting for the adoption of the sons of God, the redemp- 
tion of our body. ' ' 3 

The same Apostle, full of gratitude for this forthcoming event, 
exclaims: "Thanks be to God who hath given us the victory 
through our Lord Jesus Christ. ' ' 4 

It was the thought of rising in glory, with a body free from 
suffering, that gave comfort to the holy man Job, when the storm 

i See St. Bonaventure in IV Sent. Dist. 43, art. 1, q. 5. 

2 2 Cor. v. 10. 3 Rom. viii. 23. * 1 Cor. xv. 57. 



230 Heaven the Remunerative Sanction 

of adversity had burst upon him. Listen to his beautiful, cheer- 
ing, prophetic words: "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and 
in that last day I shall rise out of the earth; and I shall be 
clothed again with my skin, and in my flesh I shall see my God. 
Whom I myself shall see, and my eyes shall behold and not an- 
other. This my hope is laid up in my bosom. ' ' 5 

Both the Latin and the Greek Fathers that have commented 
on this text, as well as all Catholic interpreters and theologians, 
expound Job's prophetic utterance as exclusively applicable to 
the final resurrection. In a subsequent part of this work we 
shall refute the erroneous interpretations of this text put for- 
ward by some would-be Biblical scholars and rabbis of the ra- 
tionalistic Tubingen School. 

One of such critics was the English historian, J. A. Froude, 
who thought he could pose as a learned Biblical scholar, but 
he only stultified himself by the following comment on the above- 
mentioned text of Job : "If there is any doctrine of the resur- 
rection here, it is a resurrection precisely not of the body, but 
of the spirit [that is, of the soul]." 

According, then, to this learned Oxford professor, when a man 
dies, not only the body ceases to live, but the soul also, for every 
resurrection supposes a previous death. (See his lecture on 
Job.) 

342. But the classical text, which not only foretells but also 
vividly describes that astonishing event, is that of the prophet 
Ezechiel: "Behold a commotion, and the bones came together, 
each one to its joint. . . . And behold the sinews and the flesh 
came up upon them; and the skin was stretched out over them 
. . . and the spirit came into them, and they lived; and they 
stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. ' ' 6 Some 
writers, unwilling to admit this striking prediction as a proof 
of the general resurrection, maintain that this passage of Eze- 
chiel is simply an image, or representation, in figurative lan- 
guage, of what was to happen at the liberation of the Jewish 
people from the Babylonian captivity and the restoration of the 
Jewish kingdom. This was to be an event so extraordinary as 
to be compared to a general resurrection. In fact, they add, im- 
mediately after that description, ' ' the Lord said to the prophet : 
'Son of man, all these bones are the house of Israel.' " (Ibid. 11.) 

We cannot accept such an interpretation, particularly because 
in the hands of hostile Jews and rationalists it is utilized to 
weaken, nay, to eliminate altogether, the to them very embarrass- 
ing truth of the general resurrection. 

343. There exists, however, a far more solid and natural in- 
terpretation of this disputed passage ; namely, that which takes 
these prophetic words in their obvious, literal sense as descrip- 
tive of the most astounding prodigy which is to close the ex- 

5 Job xix. 25, 26, 27. 6 Ezech. xxxvii. 7-10. 



As Divinely Revealed 231 

istenee of mankind on earth — the resurrection of all the indi- 
viduals of the human race. As the Jews doubted whether the 
Lord could deliver them from captivity and restore their king- 
dom, the Heaven-inspired prophet appeals to a revealed truth 
well known to the Jewish people; viz., the resurrection of the 
dead, and argues thus: "If the Lord is able even to restore 
life to the bones that are dead, with greater reason can He de- 
liver you when alive, and bring you back to your country. ' ' It 
is what logicians call the argument a majori ad minus — an in- 
ference from what is greater to what is less. As if the Lord 
said : * * If I can do what requires a far greater power, raise the 
dead to life, I can certainly easily accomplish what demands 
a lesser power, deliver you from captivity." What our oppo- 
nents add, quoting the last words of the prophecy: "Son of 
man, all these bones are the house of Israel," evidently mili- 
tates in. favor of our own interpretation, for they imply and 
state that the comparison was intended for the Jewish people, 
to revive their hopes in the- deliverance from captivity through 
the intervention and power of the Lord. As St. Jerome wisely 
remarks on this reasoning of the inspired prophet: "There 
would be neither force nor sequence, if the fact of the resurrec- 
tion were not true, and held as such by the Jewish people. ' ' 

We cannot here omit what St. Jerome calls "robustum testi- 
monium," — "the strong testimony," in behalf of the dogma of 
the final resurrection. It is registered in the Twelfth Chapter of 
the Book of Daniel : "And many of those that sleep in the dust 
of the earth, shall awake ; some unto life everlasting, and others 
unto reproach, to see it always." The term "many" (multi), 
as St. Augustine and St. Jerome explain, is a Scriptural expres- 
sion meaning "all," as may be seen in the following parallel 
instances: "For as by the disobedience of one, many were 
made sinners, so also by the obedience of one, many shall be 
made just. " 7 "He [the Messias] hath borne the sins of 
many. ' ' 8 

344. The traditional belief of the Jewish nation in the future 
resurrection is most emphatically testified by the seven Maeha- 
bees brothers on occasion of their cruel martyrdom at the hand 
of the impious king Antiochus. Said the second to the tyrant : 
"Thou indeed, most wicked man, destroyest us out of this 
present life, but the King of the world will raise us up, who 
die for His laws, in the resurrection of eternal life." More- 
over, the fourth martyred brother bore testimony also to the 
truth of the twofold resurrection attested by our Blessed 
Saviour in His Gospel, for He spoke thus : " It is better, being 
put to death by men, to look for hope from God, to be raised up 
again by Him; for as to thee, thou shalt have no resurrection 
unto life." 9 

7 Rom. v, 19. s Is. liii. 12. 9 2 Mach. vii. 9, 14. 



232 Heaven the Remunerative Sanction 



CHAPTER X 

THE GENERAL RESURRECTION ANNOUNCED IN THE 
NEW TESTAMENT 

A striking passage in the New Testament bears ample wit- 
ness to the belief of the Jews in the resurrection, with the soli- 
tary exception of the sect of Sadducees refuted by our Blessed 
Saviour. 1 I refer to the dialogue between Jesus and Martha, 
the sister of Lazarus : ' ' Jesus saith to her : thy brother shall rise 
again. Martha saith to Him : I know that he shall rise again 
in the resurrection at the last day. ' ' 2 

This same belief is testified at length by St. Paul, thoroughly 
acquainted with the Jewish beliefs and traditions, in his first 
Epistle to the Corinthians. 3 Among the arguments he alleges, 
the following is most convincing: "If there be no resurrection 
of the dead, then Christ is not risen again." The apostle's 
reasoning comes to this: we can no more doubt of the resurrec- 
tion of the dead on the Last Judgment Day than we can doubt 
of the resurrection of Christ Himself, a fact so firmly estab- 
lished that no amount of sophistry shall ever be able to disprove 
it. 

345. Among the chief consolations held out to us by Christian 
faith the dogma of our body's resurrection, no doubt, holds the 
foremost place. Through it, as St. Paul assures us, "the en- 
emy, death, shall be destroyed," 4 and Christ's power "will re- 
form the body of our lowness made like the body of His glory ' ' 5 
The Apostle then rightly concludes saying: "Be not sorrow- 
ful, even as others who have no hope. The dead who are in 
Christ shall rise first. Wherefore comfort ye one another with 
these words. ' ' 6 

In the miseries, afflictions, and calamities of the present life, 
we should not be like those who have no hope, but we should 
rather rejoice because, as the same holy Apostle tells us in God 's 
name, "That which is at present momentary and light of our 
tribulation worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal 
weight of glory. ' ' 7 

Such is the most cheering solace, which our holy mother, the 
Church, recalls to our memory, particularly in the liturgy of 
Eastertide, bidding us at the same time to give "thanks to God, 
who has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. ' ' 8 

346. In our demonstration we purposely kept as the last the 
strongest proof that can ever be adduced, and that is the testi- 
mony of Jesus Christ Himself, recorded in St. John's Gospel. 

"The hour cometh when all that are in the grave shall hear^ 

i Matt. xxii. 23, 29, 30, 31, 32. 2 John xi. 23, 24. s 1 Cor. xv. 12-58. ' 
* 1 Cor. xv. 26. s Philipp. iii. 21. e 1 Thess. iv. 12, 15, 17. 

7 2 Cor. iv. 17. » 1 Cor. xv. 57. 



As Divinely Revealed 233 

the voice of the Son of God. And they that have done good 
things, shall come forth unto the resurrection of life, but they 
that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment. ' ' 9 Our 
Blessed Lord combined in these short sentences both the motive 
of hope and that of fear, whence we learn this most weighty, 
practical lesson — that the resurrection unto life, with all its 
glory and delights, is to be the recompense of those who die in 
the Lord, that is, in the love and friendship of their Creator, 
free from all grievous sin; whilst the resurrection unto judg- 
ment is to be the lot of impenitent sinners who breathe their 
last in enmity with their Maker. Of this latter resurrection 
spoke the martyred Machabee brother when he addressed the 
cruel tyrant Antiochus, as we have seen above, (n. 344.) 

Our Divine Saviour here proposes to our consideration two 
powerful aids to our weak nature — the motive of hope or love and 
that of fear or hatred of sin. When persons are tempted to do 
wrong, the fear of punishment is no doubt a very powerful in- 
fluence deterring them from evil-doing. "The fear of the 
Lord," says Holy Scripture, "is the beginning of wisdom," 10 
the true wisdom, which teaches men to prefer the eternal to the 
temporal, the Creator to the creature, virtue to sin, heaven to 
earth. 

Though this is perfectly true, yet it must be acknowledged 
that the motives of hope and love are also very potent to induce 
us to the hatred of sin and the practice of Christian virtue. We 
should strive, as far as possible, to represent to ourselves Al- 
mighty God under His most attractive and benignant aspect, and 
He is infinitely more attractive as the rewarder of the good than 
as the punisher of the wicked. 



CHAPTER XI 

IN WHAT WILL THE BEATITUDE OF THE BODY 
CHIEFLY CONSIST? 

By the operation of Divine Omnipotence the risen body be- 
comes endowed with those — in some sense — spiritual attributes 
which are in harmony with its glorified state and possessed of 
power which can not be limited by matter, space, or time. 

347. Theologians are unanimously agreed that the beatitude 
of the body will particularly consist in the four qualities or 
perfections with which the risen glorified body is to be adorned, 
so that it may become a fitting, worthy companion of the celes- 
tial spirits with which it is destined to dwell throughout the 
eternal years. The marvelous endowments of the glorified 

9 John v. 28, 29. 10 Ecclus i. 16. 



234 Heaven the Remunerative Sanction 

bodies are impassibility, brightness, agility, and subtility. As 
we shall notice in the course of this chapter, all these marvelous 
qualities, or extraordinary gifts, are pointed out and described 
by St. Paul in his first Epistle to the Corinthians. 1 

By impassibility is meant a complete exemption from pain, 
sickness, or suffering of any kind. This, however, does not 
mean that the risen body will be unfeeling, like a marble statue ; 
but it only means that it will no longer be subject to any dis- 
ease or pain whatever, though retaining the power of receiving 
such sensible pleasures and gratifications as are befitting the 
celestial abode and the new condition of its bodily organism; 
for, says Jesus Christ : ' ' They shall be as the angels of God in 
heaven. " 2 * ' It is sown in corruption, it shall rise in incor- 
ruption. ' ' 3 

The second quality is brightness or splendor, indicated by St. 
Paul's words : "It is sown in dishonor, it shall rise in glory." 4 
That is, it shall be embellished with extraordinary beauty, ac- 
companied by a shining light, totally free from all defects and 
blemishes, a veritable masterpiece of God's omnipotence, wis- 
dom, and love. The same wonderful transformation is assured 
to the just in other passages of Holy Writ. "The just shall 
shine and shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds." 5 
"We look for the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, who will re- 
form the body of our lowness, made like to the body of His 
glory." 6 

But the most convincing testimony regarding the gift of 
brightness, with which the risen bodies of the blessed shall shine 
forever, is that of Christ Himself, who thus speaks in His Gospel : 
"Then shall the just shine as the sun in the kingdom of their 
Father." 7 

The third quality of the glorious bodies is agility, pointed 
out by the Apostle in the following sentence: "It is sown in 
weakness, it shall rise in power." 8 The holy prophet Isaias 
foretold this wonderful change, saying: "They that hope in 
the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall take wings as 
eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and 
not faint. " 9 St. Jerome explains this passage as descriptive of 
the marvelous state of the glorified bodies in the world to come ; 
for, if applied to the present world, that prophecy will have 
only a metaphorical meaning. As St. Augustine and St. Anselm 
tell us, this perfection will endow the elect with the power proper 
of the angelic spirits, for it enables them to transport themselves 
from one extremity of the universe to the other with the rapidity 
of thought. Moreover, it imparts to them an extraordinary 

i 1 Cor. xv. 42-47; St. Thomas Supplem. p 3, qq. 82, 83, 84, 85. 

2 Matt. xxii. 30. 3 l Cor. xv. 42. * Tbid. 43. 5 Wis. iii. 7. 

ePhilipp. iii. 21 7 Matt. xiii. 43. a 1 Cor. xv. 43. » la. xl. 31. 



As Divinely Revealed 235 

physical strength, through which they can move and transport, 
not only their own bodies, but also most heavy material things. 
In this world, owing to the marvelous forces of nature, we can 
send our thoughts across continents and oceans in the twinkling 
of an eye, on the wings of the electric current. After the resur- 
rection we shall possess that power in our own bodies, for they 
shall rise endowed with spiritual qualities, entirely subject to 
the control of the soul. 

The fourth quality, most mysterious in its character, is that 
of subtility. As we learn from St. Paul, the bodies of the 
blessed, though retaining their material condition, will be 
clothed with properties which naturally belong only to spirits. 
Hence, owing to this endowment, they will possess the power of 
penetrating even the hardest substances as easily as the suns 
rays penetrate diamonds and other precious stones. Our Di- 
vine Lord exhibited this wonderful power when He rose from 
the dead and came forth from the tomb without removing the 
huge stone, which had been rolled against His sepulcher. An- 
other instance is Christ's apparition to the apostles, related by 
the Evangelist St. John. When the apostles were gathered to- 
gether, "Jesus cometh. the doors being shut, and stood in the 
midst and said : Peace be to you. ' ' 10 As the risen just are to be 
made comformable to the glorious body of Christ, so they must 
also be adorned with this supernatural gift, possessed by Him 
in the highest degree of perfection. * ' It is sown a natural body, 
it shall rise a spiritual body. ' ' 11 

348. With what rapturous delights will the soul be reunited 
with its glorified body, which becomes its temple forever! For 
here it is a question of a permanent resurrection, quite different 
from the examples of temporary resurrections performed by the 
holy prophet Eliseus in the Old Testament 12 and by Christ Him- 
self and His apostles in the New. 13 But all these miraculously 
risen people were once more subjected to the sentence of death, 
and the same must be said of all other individual resurrections, 
even to the end of time. Of our Divine Redeemer, on the con- 
trary, it is written: "Christ rising again from the dead, dieth 
now no more, death shall no more have dominion over Him. ' ' 14r 
The same must be said of His members, the risen just, of whom 
He is the head. 

As we shall soon show, immortality will truly be their crown- 
ing glory. It was forfeited by Adam in punishment of sin; it 
is through Christ's merits restored with all its glories to the just 
as a reward for their victory over sin. This much we learn from 
St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians: "But now Christ 
is risen from the dead the first fruits of them that sleep." 15 

10 John xx. 26. u 1 Cor. xv. 44. 124 Kings viii. 5-xiii 21. 

is Matt, xxvii. 52; Luke vii. 15; Mark v. 42; John xi. 44; Acts ix. 40; 
Ibid. xx. 9, 12. I* Rom. vi. 9. is 1 Cor. xv. 20. 



236 Heaven the Remunerative Sanction 

Moreover, to the just will be restored the gift of integrity, or 
freedom from concupiscence, forfeited by Adam 's sin. In virtue 
of the possession of this gift all inordinate tendencies of the 
sensitive faculties will cease to war against the soul. Hence the 
blessed will possess a tranquil dominion over all the natural in- 
clinations of their body, which will be entirely submissive to 
reason, as reason itself will be completely subject to the will of 
God. On this account the state of the blessed will be not only 
equal, but immensely superior to that enjoyed by our first par- 
ents in the Garden of Eden, in the days of their primitive inno- 
cence. 



CHAPTER XII 

THE FUNCTIONS AND PLEASURES OF THE 
GLORIFIED SENSES 

349. There is no doubt that in heaven the bodily senses also 
will exercise their respective functions and experience corre- 
sponding delights. In fact, it would be useless for the blessed to 
resume their bodies if they should be deprived of the use and de- 
lights springing from the senses. Moreover, our soul is not only 
rational, but also sensitive and therefore capable of both rational 
and sensitive gratifications. It must, therefore, enjoy a two- 
fold bliss — the essential, which is derived from the vision and 
fruition of God; and the accidental, resulting from the percep- 
tion of most excellent sensitive objects. There is a reason of 
eminent fitness for such a reward. The just, the saints and the 
martyrs in particular, endured many afflictions, pains, and tor- 
tures in their bodily senses for the sake of Christ, as described 
and predicted by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews : "They 
were stoned, they were cut asunder, they were tempted, they 
were put to death by the sword, they wandered about in sheep- 
skins, in goatskins, being in want, distressed, and afflicted. 
Others were racked, not accepting deliverance, that they might 
find a better resurrection. ' ' 1 These words of St. Paul contain 
both a record of the past and a prediction of the future. 

As to the past, we learn from the Old Testament, and par- 
ticularly from the Second Book of Machabees, Chapter VII, how 
many saintly, courageous souls, even before the coming of 
Christ, suffered divers kinds of torments in homage of God's 
holy laws. 

As to the future, that this prediction was literally fulfilled is 
shown by the history of the Catholic Church, containing the 
precious record of what the faithful servants of God endured 

i Heb. xi. 35, 37- 



As Divinely Revealed 237 

for Christ and in the defense of the Christian Faith. It is 
therefore just that they should also receive the recompense due 
for what they suffered in their bodily senses. 

Another reason is furnished by the following consideration: 
Theologians, basing their arguments on Holy Scripture, teach 
that in hell, after the resurrection, every sense of the human 
body shall have its own peculiar punishment, and that the sense 
of feeling or touch will be especially tormented, because it is 
particularly by the sins of the flesh that the reprobates have 
offended God and damned their souls. "That they might know 
that by what things a man sinneth, by the same also he is tor- 
mented. " 2 " Her sins have reached unto heaven and the 
Lord hath remembered her iniquities. As much as she hath 
glorified herself and lived in delicacies, so much torment and 
sorrow give ye to her. ' ' 3 

350. Now surely we must not imagine that God is more severe 
in punishing the wicked than He is good and liberal in reward- 
ing the just. And it is precisely in the sense of taste and feeling 
that the saints have suffered most for God's sake. Many were 
starved to death; others were made to drink boiling water; 
some were cruelly scourged, torn to pieces and devoured by wild 
beasts; others were burned alive, and still others endured the 
most excruciating tortures that human cruelty could devise and 
diabolical ingenuity suggest. The life of heaven therefore shall 
be one of pleasures also through the glorified senses. These 
bodily gratifications, as well as the delights of the beatific vision, 
are evidently beyond our comprehension. Still, we may form 
some idea of them by reflecting on the exquisite delights which 
reach our soul through our senses even in the present state of 
imperfection. They are at times so enticing, so fascinating, that 
worldlings run recklessly after them, and seem unable to resist 
their allurements and intoxicating attractions. What, then, 
must these be in heaven, where everything is perfect ? The risen 
bodies of the just will thrill and throb with pleasures of which 
we can form no conception — a fitting recompense for all the suf- 
ferings endured here below for Christ's sake. Indeed, "The 
sufferings of this time," says St. Paul, "are not worthy to be com- 
pared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us. " 4 

For a detailed explanation of the delights allotted in heaven 
to each of the glorified senses see "Happiness of Heaven" and 
"Au De la du Tombeau," by T. Hamon, S.J. 

2 Wis. xi. 17. s Apoc. xviii. 5, 7. 4 Rom. viii. 18. 



238 Heaven the Remunerative Sanction 



CHAPTER XIII 

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE ENDOW- 
MENTS OR QUALITIES OF THE RISEN 
BODIES OF THE JUST 

351. Following, in the main, the line of thought elegantly 
expressed by the distinguished writer, Bishop Vaughan, in his 
"Earth to Heaven" and "Happiness and Beauty," we submit 
to our readers these other reflections on the bodily happiness of 
the elect in heaven. 

Besides the proofs of Holy Scripture alleged in the course 
of this discussion, there exist three special grounds, reasons, or 
motives for our belief in the wonderful transformation that is 
to take place in the human body at its resurrection and recon- 
struction by the omnipotent power of God. 

352. The first arises from the manner of its formation. In the 
present order of Providence, in conformity with the laws of na- 
tivity established by God 's wisdom, the body of every human be- 
ing is indeed the work of God. Such a truth, besides being 
prompted by the voice of reason, bears the testimony of divine 
revelation. 

Hear the remarkable, heaven inspired language of the mar- 
tyred mother of the seven martyred sons: She bravely ex- 
horted every one of them in her own language, being filled with 
wisdom and joining a man's heart to a woman's thought, she 
said to them: "I know not how you were formed in my 
womb, for I neither gave you breath, nor soul, nor life ; neither 
did I frame the limbs of every one of you. But the Creator of 
the world, that formed the nativity of man, and that found out 
the origin of all, He will restore to you again in His mercy 
both breath and life, as now you despise yourselves for the 
sake of His laws. ' ' x Though this is perfectly true, yet we 
know that in the formation of each human body Almighty God 
does not act directly, but indirectly through secondary causes, 
and in conformity with the natural laws that govern the nativity 
of man. In other words, He makes use of human agents, the 
parents. We need not be surprised, then, if the child may, at 
times, show the imperfections, flaws, and shortcomings of these 
secondary agents. But with the risen body, the manner of its 
formation is entirely different, for it is rebuilt from the dust 
of the earth by the direct power of the omnipotent God, whose 
works are absolutely perfect and free from the least blemish 
or defect. Hence such bodies will be masterpieces of beauty and 
loveliness, faultless in every respect, so as to be ornaments in the 
court of heaven, in perfect harmony with the grandeur and mag- 

i 2 Mach. vii. 21, 22, 23. 



As Divinely Revealed 239 

nificence of the mansions of the blessed, God's own dwelling- 
place and the eternal abode of the elect. 

353. The second ground or reason is deduced from the end or 
purpose for which the risen bodies are destined. In the present 
world the human body must labor and toil ; it is subject to the 
inclemencies of the season, to the excess of heat and cold and 
other untoward surroundings. Shall it be so with the glorious 
bodies of the risen just? No, by no means. For they are des- 
tined to live not on earth, but in heaven; they are restored to 
life not for suffering, but for enjoyment; not to labor, but to 
rest. "And I heard a voice from heaven," says the sacred 
writer, "saying to me: Write: Blessed are the dead who 
die in the Lord. From henceforth now, saith the Spirit, 
that they may rest from their labors; for their works follow 
them." 2 

354. The third ground is as follows : Our present body, even 
in the case of a most robust constitution, can last only a few 
years. It is subject to injurious accidents which may at any 
time put an end to its ephemeral life. Moreover, the average 
duration of human life, as proved by statistics, scarcely extends 
to thirty years. Very few reach the century mark. In old 
age it outruns its strength, grows feebler from day to day, and 
finally dies. Then it must be soon removed out of sight and con- 
signed to the grave, where it disintegrates, crumbles, and be- 
comes the food of worms. "Our years shall be considered as a 
spider: [that is, as frail as a spider's web] , the days of our years 
in them are threescore and ten years. But if in the strong they 
be fourscore years : and what is more of them is labor and sor- 
row. " 3 " The number of the days of men at the most are a 
hundred years : as a drop of water of the sea are they esteemed : 
and as a pebble of the sand, so are a few years compared to 
eternity. ' ' 4 

At the last resurrection, the body is refashioned and rebuilt 
on an altogether different plan; for it is made to last not for a 
hundred or a thousand years, but for all eternity; in other 
words, it is to be reclothed with the immortality which had been 
forfeited on account of original sin. Hence it will be entirely 
free from liability to any injury that might mar its beauty and 
entrancing loveliness. No sickness or disease of any kind can 
ever befall it. The new state or condition of the risen bodies 
of the just is thus gloriously described by St. John in the Apoca- 
lypse: "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and 
death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow 
shall be any more, for the former things are passed away. ' ' 5 

355. It is interesting to recall here some of the absurd theories 
which the so-called scientific men invented in order to explain 

2Apoc. xiv. 13. 3P S . lxxxix. 9, 10. 4 Ecclus. xviii. 8. 

s Apoc. xxi. 4. 



240 Heaven tine Remunerative Sanction 

the future, final destiny of human souls independently of divine 
revelation. The reader will kindly pardon this digression. We 
learn from astronomy that the amount of heat radiated from the 
sun through planetary space is so enormous as to baffle all cal- 
culation. The sun is a gigantic furnace of such magnitude that 
comparisons between it and what we know of heat are futile. 
Among the problems with which astronomers have grappled 
during the last two centuries, is that of accounting for the fact 
that, notwithstanding the immense daily loss of heat by radiation, 
there does not seem to be in the sun any perceptible diminution 
of it. How, then, is this continuous loss compensated? 

Two principal theories have been devised. According to the 
first, an equivalent supply of heat is produced by the continual 
falling into the sun of millions of aerolites or meteoric stones, 
somewhat like those that fall on the earth as shooting-stars, 
particularly in August and November. The largest authentic 
aerolite is that which fell at Bendigo, Brazil, in 1816, which 
weighed five and a half tons. This theory has been recently 
abandoned, and replaced by the following theory of compres- 
sion, invented by Helmholtz: 

The gases and metallic vapors are powerfully compressed by 
the sun's gravity. This compression causes it to contract, and 
the contraction, which amounts to about ten inches daily, pro- 
duces the intense radiation that warms the whole solar system. 
If we take into our reckoning the sun's diameter (866,000 miles), 
and its volume or bulk (1,300,000 times that of the earth), we 
find that it may require millions of years to affect perceptibly 
that vast globe and reduce its life-giving influence to a point 
where humanity will freeze to death. 

The French scientist Figuier, a representative of the ration- 
alistic school, was not satisfied with either of the preceding 
theories, and made bold enough to advance a third one, which, he 
thinks, is quite satisfactory, for it fully accounts for an ample 
supply of heat daily furnished to the sun. This is done, he says, 
by the thousands of human souls that continually depart from 
this world on their separation from the body by death. They 
rush into the sun, and by the heat they impart to it, they repair 
the loss which it undergoes by radiation. 

To say nothing of the palpable absurdity of purely spiritual 
substances supplying material fuel for the sun's heat, according 
to this novel scheme the poor souls will find all the happiness 
they may have in the burning furnace of the sun. If such a 
fate were the exclusive lot of wicked souls, we might not quarrel 
with Figuier, for then it would be simply a question of trans- 
ferring hell's fire from the lower to the upper regions. But as 
he makes no distinction between good and wicked souls, we 
find it supremely absurd that the untold millions of just, holy, 
God-loving and God-fearing souls should have no better pros- 



As Divinely Revealed 241 

pect before them than that of supplying heat to the burning 
furnace of the sun when they depart from this world. 6 

356. We have seen what is the ultimate destiny of man's soul 
according to one of the leading rationalistic scientists of our 
times. Let us now examine the view of the German material- 
istic philosopher Buchner, concerning the destiny or chief pur- 
pose of man's body at death. After discarding the Christian 
doctrine on the resurrection and denouncing as simply absurd 
all that the Catholic Church teaches on the future existence of 
man's material organism, he condemns the veneration of the 
tombs, the practice of enclosing mortal remains in marble and 
lead coffins as being highly detrimental to the economic interests 
of the State. All such customs, however ancient and universal, 
imply an attack on the common right of agriculture, on the free 
circulation of fertilizing matter. The best thing, the most use- 
ful thing, that man can leave of himself, when dying, is a great 
quantity of phosphate, of fruitful ammoniacal salts, destined to 
increase the fertility of the soil, augmenting thereby the ma- 
terial well being of the survivors in the land. 7 

Let the reader here recall the sublime prophecy of Job 8 and 
the assurance of its fulfilment given by Christ Himself 9 and he 
will easily understand what the degrading teaching of rational- 
istic philosophy amounts to. 

English-speaking scholars are, no doubt, aware of the nega- 
tive position on future life advocated by Herbert Spencer. Yet 
Spencer lays no claim to positive certainty on behalf of his con- 
clusions. He admits that upon the deeper questions relating to 
the solution of that vexatious problem he has reasoned himself 
into a blind alley. There was no warrant for his halting, dazed 
and helpless, in this ' ' no-thoroughfare ' ' of his own making rather 
than follow the pathway which had been trodden by millions 
of confiding Christians — many of them more learned than him- 
self. As their own testimonies assure us, they experienced no 
difficulty in finding their way out of doubt and gloom into cer- 
tainty and light. 10 A writer in the London Times thus spoke 
recently of Herbert Spencer, whose philosophy has of late lost 
its influence : * ' We do not attack it ; we ignore it. It has gone 
out of fashion. It does not answer; it does not even ask the 
questions we ask. Contrary to his theories, we believe that the 
passion for truth, beauty, and righteousness is not merely a use- 
ful illusion, but a reality more real than all our external sur- 
roundings. ' ' 

« Figuier. " True Philosophy of the Universe." 

7 Buchner, Kraft und Stoff (Mind and Matter). 8 Job xix. 25-27. 

» John v. 28, 29. *° See the Light of Faith, by F. McGloin, 



242 Heaven the Remunerative Sanction 



CHAPTER XIV 

HARMONY OF THIS DOGMA WITH THE 
PROMPTINGS OF REASON 

357. We are told by some people that the one great, lofty mo- 
tive which ought to inspire the Christian soul in the battle with 
sin, is the pure love of God, and that it is an ignoble and selfish 
thing to refrain from evil and to do good for the sake of reward 
and the fear of punishment. Virtue needs no sanction, for it is 
its own reward. A man should be noble enough to keep himself 
clean without a threat, and brave enough to do right without 
the prospect of a recompense. This is manliness and morality 
at its highest. It is therefore unnecessary to give one 's thoughts 
to future life. 

In the first place, we answer that this kind of reasoning is 
like a sword sharpened on both sides, hence it cuts both ways. 
For if it is wrong and mean to think of the rewards and penal- 
ties beyond the grave, it must also be wrong and degrading to 
take account of them in the present life. The man who lives in 
this world heedless of all consequences of his doings, whether 
good or evil, is called a madman or a fool. It is not reason but 
arbitrary caprice that forbids hope from winging her flight to 
the hereafter. Moreover, to say that we should not be stirred 
and aroused by the prospect of one day arriving at the posses- 
sion and enjoyment of God's infinite majesty is to make light 
of God Himself, and disparage His dearest promises. Hear how 
the holy prophet David speaks: "O Lord, I have inclined my 
heart to do Thy justifications forever, for the reward" ; * or "for 
Thy eternal reward," as St. Jerome translates. Besides, does 
not God Himself exhort us to make use of this motive? How 
does the world's Redeemer conclude His famous sermon on the 
mount? After assigning a recompense to the practice of each 
beatitude, He adds: "Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is 
very great in heaven. ' ' 2 

"Be thou faithful until death, saith the Lord, and I will give 
thee the crown of life. " 3 To those who reject the fear of pun- 
ishment as a sordid, unworthy motive, we simply reply that 
Christ judged otherwise. Here is what He says in His Gospel : 
"I will show you whom you shall fear; fear ye Him, who after 
He hath killed, hath powder to cast into hell. Yea, I say to you, 
fear Him. ' ' 4 The fear of God is perfectly compatible with the 
love of God. As a matter of fact, those saints whose dominant 
characteristic trait was the fervor of their love toward God, were 
ever most keenly alive to a salutary fear of His judgments. 

358. As to the question of the general resurrection at the Last 
IPs. cxviii. 112. 2 Matt. v. 12. s Apoc. ii. 10. * Luke xii. 5. 



As Divinely Revealed 243 

Judgment, the doctrine made known by divine revelation is 
found to be in full harmony with the dictates of human reason, as 
it is shown by the following reflections : Our body and our soul 
are two substances wholly distinct from each other; still, they 
are so intimately united that from their union there springs one 
single personality, one only compound being, called man. Hence 
the acts of these two substances, though in themselves distinct, 
yet are inseparable and attributed to one single agent or person. 
Therefore, all human actions, whether good or bad, come from 
the soul as the principal agent, and from the body as their sec- 
ondary cause. Now if the body and the soul are inseparable in 
producing actions which may be worthy either of reward or pun- 
ishment, it is but reasonable and just that both should be either 
rewarded or punished, according to their deeds. If the soul has 
believed, hoped, and loved in obedience to its Creator, the body 
also has done its share in God's service by enduring fast and 
abstinence and bearing the galling yoke of Christian mortifica- 
tion. If the soul has been harassed by sorrow and grief for 
sin, the body has done penance and shed tears of contrition. If 
the soul has commanded, the body has obeyed. As they have 
been united in waging war against sin and vice, so shall they 
jointly partake of the recompense they have deserved. All this 
evidently points out to the eminent fitness and reasonableness of 
the body's resurrection as taught by Christian faith. This is 
exactly what St. Paul meant when he said: ''For we must all 
be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, that every 
one may receive the proper things of the body, according as he 
hath done, whether it be good or evil. ' ' 5 

If there were no resurrection, the body would remain eternally 
deprived of its share of future recompense or of punishment, 
according to its deserts. It is evident that no such retribution 
is received by the body during the present life. 

359. The following remarks of St. Thomas fully bear out our 
conclusion. Actions, he writes, are proper not of the soul alone, 
but of the composite being (humanum compositum) resulting 
from the union of the soul with the material organism, the body ; 
and since retribution is given to the operating agent, it is neces- 
sary that the whole man, composed of body and soul, should re- 
ceive the recompense of his deeds. 6 

In another part of his works the same holy Doctor reasons 
substantially thus : In the present life men, owing to the union 
of soul and body, may do what is right and good, or what is 
wrong and evil. They must therefore receive both for the soul 
and for the body a just reward or punishment. Now it is evident 
that in this life they cannot attain the full and just measure of 
their deserts. It is therefore necessary to admit the reunion of 
the soul to its body, so that man may receive what is due to him 

s 2 Cor. v. 10. 6 la 2ae, q. 74, art. 2, 3. 



244 Heaven the Remunerative Sanction 

according to his merits or demerits. 7 Moreover, there is in our 
soul a yearning for union with a body, which, as divine revelation 
teaches, will be, at the resurrection, so transformed and beauti- 
fied as to increase the happiness of the soul itself, at least exten- 
sively, as has been noted above. Such a desire, justified by 
divine, supernatural promises, cannot be frustrated ; it will then 
be fully realized. 

360. A few additional reflections on the following words of 
St. Paul will illustrate the same truth: "If in this life only 
we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. ' ' 8 
If we cannot hope to obtain any good or happiness after death, 
if the goods of this life contain all that we may attain, then we 
are of all men the most miserable. For, while sinners enjoy 
to their hearts' content all the pleasures and gratifications the 
world offers, we, on the contrary, in obedience to the Christian 
law, must restrain all criminal desires, shun all sinful pleasures, 
and bear with resignation the sufferings and miseries of life. 
But the Apostle adds: "If the dead rise not again, neither is 
Christ risen again. . . . But now Christ is risen from the 
dead, the firstfruits of them that sleep." 9 These words are to 
be understood as applying to the perfect resurrection to a glori- 
ous immortality proper of the just, of whose resurrection Christ 
was the type and model. Our mortal bodies, which now feed on 
the most sacred body of Christ, shall indeed be reduced to dust, 
in accordance with the Lord's sentence pronounced on Adam and 
his descendants: "Dust thou art and into dust thou shalt re- 
turn. ' ' 10 But at the Last Judgment, they shall rise to life im- 
mortal, for Christ, in the Sacrament of the Altar, unites Himself 
to the faithful through His vivifying flesh, in order that by this 
intimate uuion with His immortal body they may become one day 
partakers of His own immortality. This is what our Divine 
Saviour meant when He said: "He that eateth My flesh and 
drinketh My blood hath everlasting life; and I will raise Him 
up in the last day." lx 

361. Such, according to the Fathers, is one of the effects of 
worthy communion. To quote one or two out of many, St. 
Gregory of Nyssa speaks thus: "God's incarnate Word united 
Himself to mortal nature, that our humanity should be, so to 
speak, deified by contact with His divinity. On this account, 
through His sacred flesh, He unites Himself to all believers, be- 
coming mingled with their bodies, that by this union with His 
body, which is immortal, they also may become partakers of 
incorruption." 12 The martyr, Blessed John Fisher, comment- 
ing on a similar passage of St. Irenaeus, one of the earliest 
Fathers, writes: "What wonder if our bodies, nourished by 
the vivifying body and blood of Christ, though reduced to dust, 

7 Contr. Gent. 1. 4, c. 79-83. « i Cor. xv. 19 9 1 Cor. xv. 16, 20. 

io Gen. iii. 19. n John vi. 55. 12 Qrat. Catech., n. 39. 



As Divinely Revealed 245 

should, through the power of this Divine food, rise to the glory 
of immortal life?" 13 

In the following chapter we will treat of three interesting 
questions arising from the fact that, in the present order of 
Providence, the soul must remain separated from the body till 
the final resurrection on Judgment Day. 



CHAPTER XV 

IS THE NATURAL TENDENCY FOR REUNION COMPAT- 
IBLE WITH THE MIRACULOUS CHARACTER 
OF THE RESURRECTION? 

362. It is evident that this and the two subsequent questions, 
being strictly theological, are almost exclusively intended for the 
clergy, who are familiar with discussions of this kind; though 
I flatter myself that cultured laymen may derive from them 
both instruction and spiritual profit. 

The proposed question comes to this: How are the two or- 
ders, the natural and the supernatural, to be reconciled ? 

What gave rise to this discussion is the difficulty stated by a 
late Italian prelate in his notes on the sermons of Father Mon- 
sabre in the Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris, during the Lent 
of 1889. 

"The soul," he writes, "does not constitute the whole man. 
To form a human person, its union with the body is evidently 
required. The body, at death, is separated from the soul and 
falls into dissolution, disintegration, and decay. The soul is of 
itself absolutely unable to resume the body reduced to dust ; and 
the body is still more incapable of reuniting itself with the soul. 
Hence the new union of the body with the soul is supernatural 
or miraculous, that is, depending exclusively on God's power 
and will. 1 

"What follows from this? Evidently the difficulty of recon- 
ciling the natural with the supernatural order. In fact, the 
soul cannot remain forever without its body, which constitutes a 
part of its nature, for it is something repugnant to reason that 
an immortal being, such as the soul is, should remain forever 
imperfect, as would be the case if it were no longer reunited 
with the body. 2 But, on the other hand, for the soul to resume 
its body through the latter 's resurrection is something altogether 
supernatural and miraculous. It would, then, seem that na- 
ture's claim would demand a supernatural intervention, which is 
plainly erroneous, as destructive of the very idea and notion of 
the supernatural, which implies something above all the exigen- 

i3 Lib. i., Contra Haeres, e. 2, n. 3. i St. Thomas Supplem., 3ae, q. 75. 

2 St. Thomas Contra Gent. b. 4, c. 79. 



246 Heaven the Remunerative Sanction 

cies and claims of nature. Hence the dilemma springing from 
the proposed apparently insoluble difficulty : 

' ' Either we admit that the resurrection of the body is natural, 
which is an utterly false assertion, or that the soul should re- 
main forever destitute of the body, a perpetually incomplete be- 
ing, which is likewise untenable, being contrary to God's revela- 
tion." 

How then may we maintain the distinction between the natural 
and the supernatural order? The humble prelate adds: "I 
am waiting for light from those that are more learned than my- 
self." 

SOLUTION OF THE DIFFICULTY 

363. The desired light has come, and it shines so brightly that 
only the wilfully blind can fail to see it. It is furnished by the 
distinguished bishop of Nicastro, Italy, Msgr. Valensise, who in 
two recent pamphlets, grapples successfully with the above diffi- 
culty, as it is seen from the following extracts: 

In the first place, says Msgr. Valensise, we must absolutely 
deny the statement on which rests the principal support of the 
whole difficulty ; namely, that the body constitutes a part of the 
nature of the soul, for if that were true the soul evidently would 
be no longer intrinsically independent of the body, and would 
thereby cease to be spiritual and immortal. We need not be sur- 
prised, then, that from a wrong premise and a false principle 
there should follow what is said to be a false and a wrong con- 
clusion. 

As sound philosophy teaches, the human body does not con- 
stitute a part of the nature of the soul, but of the nature of man, 
that is, of the substantial compound resulting from the union 
of a bodily organism with a rational soul. Therefore, it is only 
man, the substantial compound of both soul and body, that re- 
quires for its life and action those two essential constituents, 
body and soul intimately united. Neither does the actual union 
of the body with the soul constitute an essential part of the soul 
itself, for, if it were so, the soul could not exist except when 
united to the body, and when the human compound is dissolved 
by death, the soul also would cease to live. 

364. It is therefore necessary to bear in mind the true na- 
ture of the soul, which receives its being by creation and can 
exist independently of the human compound. It has indeed its 
complete being in that compound, but is not essentially tied 
to it. 

The union of the soul with the body, on account of the cor- 
ruptibility of the latter, is naturally temporary, and its sepa- 
ration is of itself, that is, independently of a contrary divine 
provision, permanent, for there exist no natural forces capable 
of effecting that reunion by causing the practically identical 



As Divinely Revealed 247 

body to be again united to the same identical soul. Hence to 
bring about such reunion is required the intervention of a su- 
pernatural cause, God Himself, the universal agent, to whom 
all nature is subject. 

If even the simple reunion of the soul to its own corruptible 
body would be miraculous, with greater reason must we admit as 
entirely miraculous and supernatural the soul's reunion to a glori- 
fied body, a body adorned with qualities and gifts resembling 
those of the soul, such as immortality and incorruptibility. As 
divine revelation assures us, this will be the wonderful transfor- 
mation to be accomplished by God's omnipotence at the general 
resurrection. 3 

It cannot then be said that there exists in the soul a natural 
tendency and desire to a reunion with a corruptible body, which 
would again be only temporary and precarious and therefore 
undesirable. 

But in the case of a future reunion to a glorified, immortal 
body promised to the just, it is plain that such a reunion must 
form the object of the soul's intense desire. This is what St. 
Paul means by the following words: ''We ourselves groan 
within ourselves, waiting for the adoption of the sons of God, 
the redemption of the body. ' ? 4 By denying, then, the necessity 
of reunion as if it were claimed by nature, the whole foundation 
of the supposed insoluble difficulty is done away with and the 
essential distinction between the natural and the supernatural 
order is maintained. 

We are indebted for the above solution to the following au- 
thorities: (1) "In Doctrinam S. Thomae Aquinatis de Futura 
Hominum Resurrectione Commentatio,'' Auctore Dominico 
Valensise, Xicastri Episcopo in Italia : an Italian pamphlet by 
the same author on the same subject. (2) Civilta Cattolica, 
Serie xvii, vol. ii. p. 456-461. (3) "De Resurrectione Mortu- 
orum,''' Auctore Andrea A. Campodarsego, O.M.Cap.. p. 97. 



CHAPTER XVI 

DOES THE DEPARTED SOUL NATURALLY DESIRE 
TO BE REUNITED TO THE BODY? 

This question is proposed here in order to treat more fully the 
subject discussed in the preceding chapter. The answer to it is 
given in the two following propositions : 

FIRST PROPOSITION 

365. "Abstracting from its condition, whether holy or other- 
wise, we hold that the separated soul retains a natural tendency 
3 See 1 Cor. xv. 12-23, 42-44. * Rom. viii. 23. See also 2 Cor. v. 2, 3, 4. 



248 Heaven the Remunerative Sanction 

to unite with the body." This is nothing else but its fitness to 
constitute with it the human compound, man ; for the soul, in the 
state of separation, is an incomplete substance, destined to be 
perfected by its reunion with the body. Such a tendency re- 
mains, though the reunion is no longer possible without a mirac- 
ulous intervention of God's omnipotent power. 

It is in this sense that must be understood the statements of 
the Angelic Doctor in his Summa Contra Gentiles. 1 

As to the tendency of the body toward reunion here is what 
St. Thomas writes: "As man's mortal remains are to be re- 
united to the soul only by the power of God, it cannot be said 
that there exists in them any natural inclination to such re- 
union. ' ' 2 

SECOND PROPOSITION 

366. ' ' The separated souls of the just, in the present order of 
providence, involving the supernatural destiny of the whole man, 
of his body as well as of his soul, have doubtless a rational, elicit 
appetite or craving for union to the body, which, they know, will 
be free from sufferings and will rise to life immortal. ' ' The souls 
of the just know that the glorified and impassible body will then 
attain its full and lasting perfection, in consequence of which 
they will suffer from its association no impediment whatever in 
their spiritual operations of intelligence and will. Hence their 
beatitude will be — at least extensively — greater than that of the 
angels, who are deprived of the accidental delights arising from 
the glorified bodies. Father Lessius, as we noticed before, calls 
attention to this gratifying fact, when contrasting the relative 
enjoyment of men and angels in heaven : "Man will be, in some 
manner, happier than the angels themselves, for, whilst he will 
be endowed as they, with impassibility, quickness of motion, the 
vision, love, and fruition of God, and with the knowledge of 
things both natural and supernatural, he will moreover possess 
the glory of the body and its many gratifications, not enjoyed by 
the angels. On this account the souls of the just most ardently 
desire their bodies' resurrection. For this reason the souls of 
the saints, and particularly of the martyrs, are represented in 
the Apocalypse as supplicating the Lord to hasten their union 
with the bodies, in which they suffered during life, and thus 
complete the beatitude of His elect. "And they cried with a 
loud voice saying: How long, Lord (Holy and True), dost 
thou not judge and revenge our blood in them, that dwell on 
the earth ? " 3 They ask this not out of hatred to their enemies, 
but out of zeal for the glory of God, to be most strikingly mani- 
fested to all men in the general judgment. 

And what was the answer to their prayer ? ' ' And it was said 
i L. iv, c. 79, 80, 81. 2 Supplem. 3ae } q U . 78, art. 3. 3 Apoc. vi. 10. 



As Divinely Revealed 249 

to them that they should rest for a little time, till their fellow 
servants and their brethren, who are to be slain, even as they, 
should be filled up. " 4 

But, in another order of providence, it is quite possible that, 
excluding the body's resurrection to immortal life, the soul, 
guided then only by natural light, would not cherish any elicit 
desire of union with a corruptible body, subject to the same 
miseries, infirmities, and impediments, which it experienced 
when formerly united with it, since such a union, besides being 
temporary, would be more injurious than beneficial. According 
to Suarez, the soul, both when separated from the body and when 
united to it, may be called a semi-persona. In fact, when sepa- 
rated it is naturally incomplete, though retaining its condition as 
a part of the human compound, man, and its aptitude to be re- 
united with the bodily organism, thus to constitute one com- 
plete human substance, hominis personam. When united to the 
body it may also be said to be a semi-persona in this sense, that 
in this state of union it retains the same partial personality, 
which it possesses in the state of separation. 

But the soul separated from the body differs specifically and 
essentially from the angelic nature for two reasons. First, be- 
cause, as shown above, it is naturally incomplete and communi- 
cable to a material organism for the formation of the human 
compound ; which cannot be said of the angelic spirits. Secondly, 
because the soul, even when separated from the body, does not 
undergo any change as to its specific, substantial entity, though 
it becomes capable of new modes of operating, for, as schoolmen 
teach, "Modus operandi sequitur modum essendi," — that is, 
''every being operates according to the manner of its exist- 
ence." 5 

CHAPTER XVII 

DOES THE SEPARATED SOUL FIND ITSELF IN A 
VIOLENT, RESTRAINING STATE? 

367. What gave rise to this question, and necessitates an an- 
swer, is the following objection : The soul, when separated from 
the body, finds itself in a kind of violent state ; but this cannot 
last, because, as the schoolmen tell us, "Violentum non durat," — 
"What is in a violent state cannot last." Therefore either this 
union must be effected, and then resurrection becomes necessary, 
even in the natural order, that is by the reunion of the soul to a 
corruptible body. Or, if not effected, the soul will sooner or 
later come to an end, for a being in a violent state cannot last. 
This objection is completely solved if we remove the founda- 
4 Ibid. vi. 11. 5 See Lessius, Opuscula, vol. iii., n. 34. 



250 Heaven the Remunerative Sanction 

tion or pedestal on which it rests, that is, if we disprove the as- 
sertion that the soul, when separated from the body, finds itself 
in a violent state. 

In the first place, as shown in Part III of our book, it is 
natural for the soul to live and act without its union with the 
body, because it is immortal and independent of all material 
organs in the exercise of its mental faculties. Hence the state 
of separation implies no violence whatever in that respect. 

Moreover, the souls departed from this world are either in 
the state of salvation already in heaven, or as yet in purgatory ; 
or are in the state of damnation as reprobates in hell. 

As to the souls of the just in the interval till the coming of 
the final resurrection, they suffer no violence from its delay; 
first, because the possession of heaven, either actual or to come, 
makes them perfectly happy, and secondly, because their will is 
perfectly conformed to that of God. All they lack is merely the 
accidental bodily happiness. 

As to the reprobate souls, they certainly suffer no anxiety 
for reunion, since they know full well that their association with 
their bodies will be to them a cause of additional torments and 
miseries. It has therefore been proved that the separated soul 
does not find itself in a violent state. 

We conclude this fourth part of our work by a brief discus- 
sion of two strictly connected subjects. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

THE VARIOUS DEGREES OF MERIT 

368. Divine grace, by making us adoptive children of God, 
confers on our actions a value, which, considered in themselves, 
they do not possess, and renders them meritorious of eternal 
glory. Merit always involves some kind of claim to a recom- 
pense. When a recompense is due through strict justice, whence 
arises an equitable right on the part of the claimant, we have 
what is termed condign merit — meritum de condigno. When 
retribution may be claimed simply as something befitting, or as a 
kind of grateful return, there is then the merit of congruity — 
meritum de congruo. 1 For an act to be meritorious of heavenly 
glory it is required that it should be morally good, free, and su- 
pernatural; that is, elicited through motives inspired by divine 
faith. On the part of God the promise of a reward is always 
supposed. 

Eternal life is indeed the inheritance of adopted sons, but it 
is also the reward of the good deeds, which the just performed 
under the influence of and by the aid of divine grace. 

iSt. Thomas, la, 2ae, qu. 114, art. 1, 3, 7. 



As Divinely Revealed 251 

369. As we proved above, though man cannot be said to pos- 
sess a strict claim or right to divine recompense, for whatever 
he has is God 's gift ; yet, on account of God 's explicit promises, 
he is entitled to a reward for his good deeds. In the present or- 
der of providence he is destined for heavenly beatitude, and it 
shall be bestowed on him as a recompense for his merits, if he 
fulfils the imposed condition, i. e., compliance with God's holy 
will. In human things a kind of just proportion or equity must 
be observed between the merit, or the work done, and its reward. 
Can we say the same of the supernatural bliss bestowed by Al- 
mighty God on His loyal, faithful servants? No, by no means. 
There is no proportion, no comparison whatever between even 
the most heroic actions of men, and the heavenly reward, a hap- 
piness perfect in its object, boundless in its extent and eternal 
in its duration. "Well done, good and faithful servant," says 
Christ in His Gospel, "because thou hast been faithful over a 
few things, I will place thee over many things; enter thou into 
the joy of the Lord. ' ' 2 This most cheering truth is thus pro- 
claimed by St. Paul: "I reckon that the sufferings of this 
time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that 
shall be revealed in us. " 3 

A similar sentiment is expressed by the same Apostle in his 
second Epistle to the Corinthians (iv. 18), which we had occa- 
sion to quote when speaking of heavenly happiness. 

370. In this connection I will here reproduce a thoughtful re- 
mark of Father Tapparelli, S.J., the distinguished author of 
the classical "Essay on Natural Right." In his first disserta- 
tion (n. 133), he writes: "Here some one might ask me, 'How 
can man acquire any merit before God, whom he cannot at all 
benefit, and from whom he receives all that he possesses ? ' This 
is my answer: It is plain that man cannot acquire, in regard 
to God, any merit of strict justice, as between himself and God 
there exists no equality whatsoever, but only some respects or 
relations of proportion, as St. Thomas states. 4 But, if we take 
into account God's decree creating man for natural happiness, 
on condition that he should tread on the appointed path, he ac- 
quires, by so doing, a kind of right to the attainment of the end 
proposed to him. For what kind of path would that be which 
did not lead to the proposed goal? On the other hand, though 
the good intentions and actions of man can afford no intrinsic 
advantage to God, yet they contribute to the increase of His 
extrinsic glory, to promote which man was created; and in this 
way he lends his share to the moral order of the universe, of 
which God is the Supreme Ruler ; and in this sense man may be 
said to be in some manner advantageous to God and thereby 
merit a recompense for his virtuous deeds." 

In the present order of providence, owing to man's elevation 

2 Matt. xxv. 21. 3 Rom. viii. 18, * la 2ae, pu . 114, art. 1, 2, 3. 



252 Heaven the Remunerative Sanction 

to the supernatural state, we find that there exists a just pro- 
portion between human virtuous actions and the divine reward. 
For as adopted children of God we merit the beatific vision and 
the degree of beatitude corresponding to our co-operation 
with divine grace. It is the dignity of adoption acquired 
through the merits of Christ that imparts to our acts a super- 
natural value and makes them proportioned to the supernatural 
recompense. Hence the bestowal of heavenly beatitude is 
designated in Holy Scripture as a reward, 5 as the inheritance of 
worthy sons, 6 as a crown for lawful combats, 7 and as the recom- 
pense or hire due to diligent laborers. 8 

We should, however, never forget the wise reflection of St. 
Augustine, who says that Almighty God by bestowing on the just 
the eternal reward only crowns His own gifts. 

The following not only heretical but also supremely absurd 
proposition of Baius was deservedly condemned by Pius V in his 
Bull Ex Omnibus Afflictionibus issued October 1, a. d. 1567 : 

N. 14. ' ' The good works of the just will not receive in the last 
Judgment Day a reward greater than they deserved to receive 
according to the just judgment of God. ' f 9 

371. It is certain that what constitutes the essential happi- 
ness of heaven; namely, the beatific vision, the "happy-making" 
sight, is substantially the same for all the blessed; but at the 
same time, we must remember that the enjoyment of such happi- 
ness contains different degrees of intensity proportionate to the 
merits acquired by each individual during his lifetime upon 
earth. Hence the holier in heaven will receive more delight 
through the faculties of the soul and the glorified senses, after 
the resurrection, than those that have practised virtue in an 
inferior decree. Therefore each of the blessed shall possess that 
degree of happiness, which is proportionate to the supernatural 
perfection attained by the virtue and holiness of his life. 

All the just are to rise in glory, but each one according to 
the degree of his perfection and supernatural merit, St. Paul 
illustrates this truth by a fitting comparison: "Star differeth 
from star in glory ; so also is the resurrection of the dead. ' ' 10 
There will then be a kind of gradation in the personal beauty, 
grace, and splendor allotted to the saints. 

372. Here we may ask: "Shall those different degrees of 
glory cause envy in those that possess an inferior degree of 
heavenly happiness?" We answer that this cannot be. There 
is no envy in heaven, the abode of perfect bliss, tranquillity, and 
peace. Every one there is completely satisfied with his own de- 
gree of glory, which he knows to be proportionate to his merits. 
Nay, he even rejoices at the higher degree of glory granted to 
others who merited it by the higher degree of holiness which 
they attained in their probation on earth. 

s Gen. xv. 1. 6 Rom. viii. 17. 7 2 Tim. ii. 5. 8 Matt. xx. 8. 

9D. Enchiridion, p. 331. io 1 Cor. xv. 41, 42. 



As Divinely Revealed 253 



CHAPTER XIX 

IS THE DEGREE OF HEAVENLY GLORY AFFECTED BY 
THE ENDURANCE OF A LONG PURGATORY? 

373. The preceding discussion on the different degrees of hap- 
piness allotted to the blessed reminds me of an interesting ques- 
tion treated by the Rev. Father Ernest Hull, S. J., the able editor 
of the Bombay Examiner, in the issue of that paper for April 
17, 1915, p. 156. The question is whether the fact that a man 
goes through a long purgatory will cause him, when entering 
heaven, to receive a lower degree of glory than that given to him 
who goes through a short purgatory or none at all? 

In answer to this question we must remark that, as theo- 
logians teach us, merit and temporal punishment are separate 
things. Merit is measured by acts of virtue, while temporal pun- 
ishment is measured by acts of sin, and each total is reckoned 
separately. The total of merit determines the degree of reward 
in heaven; the total of sin measures the degree of punishment 
to be endured in purgatory, if not atoned for in this life. Hence 
the individual who suffers a long purgatory, at its termination, 
will get full credit for all his merits ; and if they were greater in 
number than those of the other individual referred to above, he 
will receive a greater degree of glory. The reason is that merit 
and punishment or expiation belong to a different order of things. 
The merit acquired is eternal, while the demerit caused by sin is 
temporal in its consequences. We of course suppose that sin 
has been repented of, and its guilt forgiven and effaced before 
death. 

All this is not revealed doctrine, but is merely the applica- 
tion of reason and common sense to supplement the somewhat 
scanty data we possess on this subject. If the soul of the just 
man carries with it from this life such stains as must detain it 
from an immediate entrance into the presence of the Creator, 
it is still assumed that the full measure of merited happiness 
awaits it, once the claims of divine justice have been fully satis- 
fied. 

According to God's most benevolent design earth is the exile 
of humanity, heaven is their country; a thought elegantly de- 
veloped by St. Augustine, a man as distinguished by the lofti- 
ness of his genius as by the holiness of his life: "We seek the 
Lord God in the present life, where we labor ; we shall find Him 
in the future, where we rest. Here below we see God, as it 
were, in a shadow, in a dark manner ; x in heaven we shall behold 
Him in His full splendor, face to face. On earth our love of 
God is merely incipient: in paradise our love of Him will be 

i 1 Cor. xvi. 12. 



254 Heaven the Remunerative Sanction 

perfect. There our repose will be without end, our knowledge 
without error, and our joy without tears. Heaven means all 
this to us as yet pilgrims in exile; it means a good deal more 
to those that have reached their blessed country. ' ' 2 

THE BLESSED NEWS 
(By Richard Langhorne, English Martyr, 1679) 

374. It is told me I must die. 

blessed news ! 
I must quit 

Earth for heaven. 
My earthly prison for a liberty of joy, 
My banishment for my true country. 

I must pass 

From time to eternity, 
From misery to felicity, 

From change to immutability, 
From death to immortality. 

I must go to fill 

My spirit with a plenitude of light, 
My will with a fulness of peace, 

My memory with a collection of all goods, 
My senses with a satiety of pleasures. 

I go where I shall find 

All things which I can desire, 
Nothing which I can fear. 

1 shall no more want any good, 
God shall be unto me all in all, 

And my all for all eternity. 

I shall see and I shall live, 

I shall praise and I shall bless, 
And this I shall forever do. 

It is told me I must die, 

Oh, what happiness! 
I am going 

To the place of my rest, 
To the land of the living, 

To the haven of security, 
To the kingdom of peace, 

To the palace of my God, 
To the nuptials of the Lamb, 

To sit at the table of my King, 
2De Civitate Dei. 



As Divinely Revealed 255 

To feed on His blessed sight, 

To see what no eye hath seen, 
To hear what no ear hath heard, 
To enjoy what no mortal can conceive. — Amen. 
— From the Ave Maria, July 31, 1915, p. 136. 



PAET V 

HOW ALMIGHTY GOD HELPS MAN TO 
EEACH HIS LAST HAPPY END 

NOTE 

375. It is both an interesting and a cheering truth to recall 
what the Lord has done and continues to do to enable His 
rational, human creatures to attain their last end, the happiness 
of eternal life. This we shall endeavor to show in a series of 
chapters, all bearing ample evidence to the same most consoling 
fact. 

We can have no better evidence of the actual intervention of 
God 's mighty power in the great business of salvation than that 
offered by the incident related in St. Mark 's Gospel. 

Our blessed Saviour had spoken at some length of the difficul- 
ties to be encountered, and the obstacles to be overcome in win- 
ning the kingdom of heaven, when some of the disciples, aston- 
ished at His words, said among themselves : ' ■ Who then can be 
saved ? ' ' Jesus, who well knew their secret thoughts and words, 
looking upon them said: "With men it is impossible; but not 
with God. For all things are possible with God. ' ' 1 We shall 
treat of this important matter in the following chapters on the 
divine benefits lavished upon man, all intended as means directed 
to secure our eternal salvation. 

God requires men to co-operate freely with His grace, for He 
is wise and leads His rational creatures to their appointed end in 
harmony with the faculty of personal freedom He gave them. 
He is just, and will grant them eternal happiness as a merited 
reward. He is good and wishes that His faithful, loyal servants, 
whether angels or men, should have in heaven the additional 
joy of having won it by their free co-operation with divine grace, 
a perpetual gratification reserved only to such of the elect as 
enter paradise with their souls adorned and enriched with meri- 
torious works. 



CHAPTER I 
THE BENEFITS OF NATURE 

376. The benefits of nature are derived from creation. Before 
we received the gift of existence, before the creation of the an- 
iMarkx. 26,27. 

257 



258 How God Helps Man 

gelic world and of the universe in which we live, nay, from all 
eternity, God thought of us, loved us and decreed to make from 
nothing all the beings round about us that they might contribute 
to our welfare and to our perfection and happiness. "Thus 
saith the Lord: Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting 
love." 1 

When He created the angels He was destining them to be the 
heralds of His designs in our regard, the helpers of our salva- 
tion, the custodians of our lives and our defenders against our 
diabolical enemies. 

No better evidence of the astounding power of the good angels 
could be adduced than the startling fact related by the prophet 
Isaias : ' ' When the angel of the Lord went out and slew in the 
camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand. ' ' 2 
A terrible slaughter of God's enemies also referred to in the 
First Book of Machabees : 3 " Are they not all ministering 
spirits, sent to minister for them, who shall receive the inherit- 
ance of salvation ? " 4 They acted indeed as the ministers of our 
redemption. The archangel Gabriel predicted to the prophet 
Daniel the precise year and week when the atoning sacrifice 
of the Messias was to be offered to the Lord's offended majesty 
in reparation of sin and the redemption of man. 5 

The same archangel was deputed by the Lord to announce 
to the Virgin Mary that she had been chosen to be the Mother 
of the Messias, the Redeemer and Saviour of mankind. 6 

To each one of us is assigned by God a prince of His heavenly 
court to be our guardian, guide, and protector during our earthly 
pilgrimage. 

When God created the atoms of matter, He intended so to 
combine and arrange them as to form the light that was to illu- 
mine my eyes, the air that I was to breathe, the earth that was 
to sustain and nourish me by the production of plants and their 
fruits, the sun and the stars that were to proclaim to me His 
glory, the animals intended to serve, clothe, nourish, and re- 
create me. 

Divine Providence fashioned for us a body that was to sum up 
in itself the different degrees of beings and the wonders of the 
material and sensitive world. In fact, in the language of St. 
Gregory the Great: "Man shares existence with stones, growth 
with plants, and sensibility with animals. ' ' 7 And when He 
framed and ordered the universe He meant to submit it to man's 
dominion. "The Lord said: Fill the earth and subdue it, and 
rule over the fishes of the sea and the fowls of the air, and all 
living creatures that move upon the earth." 8 He charged men 
with the sublime, honorable duty of proclaiming to their fellow- 

iJer. xxxi. 3. 2 Is. xxxvii. 36. 3 1 Mach. vii. 41. * Heb. i. 14. 

5 Dan. ix. 24-27. 6 Luke i. 26-38. 7 Homil. xxix. in Evang. 

s Gen. i. 28. 



To Secure His Supreme End 259 

creatures the existence, the wisdom, goodness, and power of 
their Sovereign Creator and Supreme Benefactor, as manifested 
by the countless creatures that surround us. 

377. The generous bounty which God displays in behalf of 
His rational creatures is thus beautifully described by the au- 
thor of a little book entitled "The Paradise of God": "It is 
God that enlightens us in the sun ; that cheers us with its genial 
warmth, and delights us with the varied beauties of field and 
forest. God's power is in the mighty storm; His immensity 
is reflected in the boundless ocean ; His goodness is shown in the 
endless stores of the teeming earth. His hand paints the petals 
of the flowers, shapes their tiny leaves, and fills their cups with 
honeyed fragrance. His breath ripens the fruits of vines and 
trees and waving grain. His strength and His sweetness are 
hidden within them to fortify, nourish, and refresh us, thus 
rendering our exile less tiresome and reminding us by the en- 
joyment of earthly gifts of the far greater treasures that await 
us in our true country, our heavenly Father's home. And 
what are we in soul and body but living monuments to attest 
the goodness of God ? Our souls are His gift ; they live and act, 
they know and feel through Him. Our eyes see with His light, 
our tongue speaks with His motion; our hands labor and our 
feet walk with His power. It is our God and our Father that 
lays us down to rest at night and closes our eyes in sleep, 
while He watches at our side and holds His mighty hand over us 
to protect us from harm. It is our God and our Father that 
gently arouses us when He gives us another day to enjoy His 
blessings in this life and gain merits for the higher beatitude 
of the next, for as St. Paul said: 'In Him we live, and move 
and are. ' " 9 

How cheering are the words of the holy prophet David, re- 
calling the tenderness of God's love toward His faithful serv- 
ants : " O how great is the multitude of Thy sweetness, Lord, 
which Thou hast hidden for them that fear Thee! . . . Thou 
shalt hide them in the secret of Thy face, from the disturbance 
of men. " 10 all ye lovers of God, think of the reward of 
your love. What evil can hurt you, or what good can be want- 
ing to you, if He loves you, who can do all things. What greater 
good can you desire than to be loved by Him, who can bestow 
upon you heavenly happiness: who has the power of life and 
death; who can condemn those He hates, and save those He 
loves. As He cannot save those that hate Him, so He cannot 
condemn those who love Him. 

Who would ever fear if he were intimately conscious of this 
cheering truth, that the arms of the Omnipotent are wound 
about him all day long and that nothing on earth or in hell can 
injure or molest him without permission of that Divine Lover, 

9 Acts xvii. 28. i° Ps. xxx. 20, 21. 



260 How God Helps Man 

whose love is infinite, and whose power no creature can resist. 
To be fully sensible of all this is to be calm, happy and imper- 
turbable. 

CHAPTER II 

THE BENEFITS OF GRACE 

The series, chain, or multitude of such benefits originated long 
before the accomplishment of our redemption, for it is from all 
eternity that God decreed to raise man to the supernatural state 
and to destine him to the immense happiness of the beatific vision. 

Hence, at the first instant of his creation the future parent 
of the human race was enriched with that highest of gifts, 
original justice, sanctifying grace, which he was to transmit to 
all his descendants. 

378. Through his disobedience Adam forfeited that grace both 
for himself and his posterity. But the Lord at once promised 
a Redeemer who was to save all that would* receive the grace of 
redemption, which He was to merit by His passion and death. 
"As many as received Him [Christ the Saviour] God gave them 
power to be made the sons of God. ' ' x From that moment man- 
kind received the power of being reinstated into the super- 
natural order, and it may be said that all that happened in the 
history of man from Adam to Jesus Christ had a special refer- 
ence to the groundwork of our redemption. God thought of us 
and prepared our redemption and our salvation when He pre- 
served Mary from contracting the stain of original sin, and of- 
fered to her the unrivaled honor of the divine maternity, with 
all the sacrifices which that dignity entailed. 

It is for us, to redeem us, to save us, that the Eternal Son of 
God became incarnate, was born in a stable, died upon the cross, 
rose from the dead, and after sending His apostles to preach to 
all nations the tidings of salvation, He ascended into heaven, 
whence He sent the Divine Spirit, who was to remain in His 
Church till the end of time; to teach her all truth and protect 
her against all her enemies. 2 

All that Jesus Christ taught, did, and suffered was for our 
spiritual benefit. He instituted the sacraments, the priesthood, 
the Church in order to communicate to us the gifts of redemp- 
tion. Through Baptism we are, so to speak, clothed with the 
grace of Christ ; for, as St. Paul teaches, Jesus, by Baptism, im- 
parts to us His image and likeness, and it is only by preserving 
it unsullied, free from deadly sin, that we shall obtain the 
promised eternal recompense. For this is the doctrine of St. 
Paul, that God predestines to eternal glory those whom He 
foreknew to be made conformable to the image of His Son. 3 

i John i. 12. 2 John xiv. 16, 17, 26; xvi. 7, 13; Luke xxi. 15. 

3 Rom. viii. 29. 



To Secure His Supreme End 261 

By the other sacraments He embellishes and adorns this image, 
He restores it when lost; but it is above all through the Holy 
Eucharist that He perfects His union with us and our resem- 
blance to His Divine Son, who thus speaks of this marvelous 
effect of Holy Communion: "He that eateth My flesh and 
drinketh My blood abideth in Me and I in him. " 4 

By conferring on the apostles the power of transmitting to 
their survivors and their successors the Sacred Orders, particu- 
larly the priesthood and the episcopate ; by bestowing on Peter 
and his successors the gift of infallibility; by multiplying the 
martyrs, the Doctors of the Church, and her ministers, God 
wished that the light of faith, the benefits of redemption, and the 
means of salvation should be scattered broadcast and be placed 
within the reach of all. 

It would be next to impossible to record the countless means 
of salvation which God's bountiful providence furnishes to His 
creatures. Besides those that are common and therefore gen- 
erally known, there must be an endless number of such as are 
specially adapted to the peculiar needs of certain individuals, 
and are manifest almost exclusively to their fortunate recipi- 
ents. But I must here recall to the reader's memory an instru- 
ment of spiritual instruction and sanctification which, though 
frequently used, is seldom appreciated at its true value. I 
mean the reading of good books. Yes, God be thanked for 
good books; supplied to us by God's servants in abundance, and 
in such variety as to meet and satisfy the taste of every reader. 
St. Hugh of Lincoln was always impressing on his religious 
brethren the duty of reading. He went so far as to tell them 
that spiritual books were their arms in time of war, their occu- 
pation in time of peace, and their solace in time of sickness; 
a wise counsel, which, though directed to cloistered souls, may be 
followed with much profit by persons living in the turmoil of 
this busy world. I will now glean a few thoughts from that 
sweet master of spiritual life, the late Father Frederick William 
Faber of the Oratory. They will assist the reader in acquiring 
a greater esteem of this means of grace and in utilizing it to his 
best advantage. "Other things being equal," says Father Fa- 
ber, ' ' a person beginning the spiritual life with a taste for read- 
ing has a much greater chance of advancing and of persever- 
ing than one who is destitute of such a taste. It increases the 
light round about us, and also the light within us. Reading 
feeds prayer, it supplies matter, it plants the wilderness ; it irri- 
gates what it has planted. The old masters called it oil for 
the lamp of prayer." 5 

Though the scope of my work does not demand that I should 
here suggest a list of spiritual books, otherwise easily obtainable, 
yet I cannot deny to myself the pleasure of reminding the 

4 John vi. 57. 5 Spiritual Conferences, p. 362. 



262 How God Helps Man 

reader of a recent production eminently fitted to help him in 
attaining the ultimate purpose I had in view in writing my 
book, which is securing to him the happiness of life eternal. I 
refer to the excellent volume entitled " Heaven Open to Souls," 
by Rev. Henry Churchill Semple, S.J. On several occasions 
I have called the reader's attention to the solemn truth that 
death in mortal sin alone can rob us of heavenly bliss. Father 
Semple in the subtitle of his work purposes to prove to his 
readers that love for God above all things and perfect contri- 
tion are easy and common in souls resolved to avoid mortal 
sin, the only obstacle to the attainment of everlasting glory. It 
strikes me that the two books practically supplement each other. 
Mine points out the end, the infinite, eternal happiness of future 
life : that of Father Semple develops the surest means for attain- 
ing it; love of God above all things and Perfect Contrition are 
incompatible with the only hindrance to endless happiness, mor- 
tal sin. Hence the scope and aim of both books are practically 
identical, for whilst Father Semple opens heaven to souls that 
they may surely enter it, when departed from this life, in the 
seventh, eighth and ninth parts of my volume I open to the 
reader the dungeon of hell that he may surely escape it after 
death. 

Who can describe in fitting language the life of a Christian 
admitted to share the riches of Christ's plenteous redemption! 
Every moment spent in His service makes him more precious 
in God's sight and puts to his account ever-increasing claims to 
additional degrees of eternal, heavenly glory. Every good 
thought, desire and action performed in grace acquires a price- 
less value. With every breath he is brought nearer to that 
blessed moment when he shall be set free from the conflicts of 
this mortal life and bidden to enter upon the heritage of divine 
bliss. But God does not reserve all these gifts for eternity. 
For even here on earth, in this valley of tears, the land of exile, 
the Lord manifests the riches of His goodness to His faith- 
ful servants; and, in addition to His promise of eternal happi- 
ness in His Kingdom, He pledges Himself to bestow a hundred- 
fold upon them now in return for the trifles, the petty things 
they renounced for His sake. "A hundred times as much now 
in this time, and in the world to come life everlasting. ' ' 6 The 
whole environment of such souls is divinely ordained and dis- 
posed as a preparation for the possession of God throughout 
eternity. He withholds no gift from them which is directed to 
the forthcoming realization of His holy purposes. And what 
He gives, He gives not as a God far off, but as one who is near 
them, within them, the temples of the Holy Spirit. 

6 Mark x. 30. 



To Secure His Supreme End 263 

CHAPTEE III 

THE PROMISED BENEFITS OF GLORY 

379. We have briefly recalled what the Lord has done for us 
in the order of nature and that of grace. But all this was only 
a prelude, a preparation, a foretaste of a still higher gift He 
intends to bestow on His servants, i. e., everlasting glory and 
happiness in His heavenly kingdom. He has endowed us with 
an intellect capable of infinite knowledge ; with a will capable of 
infinite good ; a twofold aspiration to be completely gratified by 
the vision, possession, and enjoyment of our Creator, the source 
of infinite truth and infinite good. 

Then shall be verified the astounding transformation spoken 
of by the inspired writer, the Apostle St. John, in his first 
Epistle: ''Dearly beloved, we are now the sons of God; and it 
hath not yet appeared what we shall be. We know that when 
He shall appear, we shall be like to Him, because we shall see 
Him as He is." 1 

This lofty dignity should inspire us with sentiments worthy 
of so exalted a privilege and move us to the performance of 
actions befitting it. In olden times the son of a great king was 
invited to share the repast of a simple peasant family. "Go," 
said the king, "but never forget for a moment that thou art a 
king's son." God speaks the same words to each of us to-day: 
"Go and fulfil all the duties of thy earthly calling, but never 
forget that thou art the child of God." The frequent recollec- 
tion of this thought will prevent us from doing anything un- 
worthy of that unrivaled prerogative. This relationship with 
the Eternal and the Omnipotent carries with it all the special 
privileges, rights, and advantages of real sonship, such as a 
claim to the inheritance of sons, and the possession of God's 
fatherly love in all its marvelous manifestations both here and 
hereafter. 

Nature, grace, glory — such are the three successive degrees 
or manners of God's communications to His creatures, and of 
the munificent effusions of His infinite bounty, liberality, and 
love. The series of gifts accruing to us through the mystery of 
the Incarnation, leading us step by step to the realization of 
our destiny, heavenly beatitude, has been tersely described by 
St. Thomas Aquinas in the following stanza, adopted by the 
Church in the Liturgy of the Blessed Sacrament : 

Se nascens dedit socium, 
Convescens in edulium, 
Se moriens in pretium 
Se regnans dat in premium, 

i John iii. 2. 



264 How God Helps Man 

which may be thus paraphrased: 

Christ was born to be our model and companion. 

He dwells in our temples to be our food ; 

By dying on the cross He paid the price of our redemption 

And in heaven He gives Himself as our greatest good. 

Could Almighty God do more ? Could we desire higher bless- 
ings? We may here apply what St. Augustine wrote of the 
gift of the Holy Eucharist, bestowed by Christ on all believers 
even to the end of time. God is infinitely wise, infinitely power- 
ful, and infinitely rich; yet it must be said that in all the 
treasures of His wisdom, of His omnipotence and of His wealth, 
He could neither devise nor confer upon His rational creatures 
a greater blessing and a higher gift, after that of Holy Eu- 
charist, than their destiny to eternal glory. 

And I, a poor worm of the earth, lost, overwhelmed as it were 
by the immensity of God's goodness and love for men, shall I 
dare raise the insolent cry of rebels and say "Non serviam — I 
will not obey my Sovereign Creator and Supreme Benefactor"? 

The infinite goodness and munificence of God toward His 
creatures will appear still more evident, if after the general de- 
scription of His divine liberality, we descend to some details and 
point out particular heavenly favors lavished upon us. We 
may lay it down as a fundamental Catholic truth, that Almighty 
God is more anxious, more willing that we should reach our last 
end, everlasting happiness, than we could be ourselves. As one 
of the evidences of this most striking fact, let us consider the 
untold benefit of the exhaustless, perpetual treasure of the merits 
of Christ, the subject of the following chapter. 

Let us also briefly consider the divine graces showered on man- 
kind before the accomplishment of man's Redemption. The 
help which humanity needed God gave, in the first instance, in 
the form of a primitive revelation, in which was promised the 
fulness of grace to come. This revelation sets the divine seal on 
the weightiest truths which reason, a heavenly gift, teaches, it 
throws light upon the profoundest problems of human existence, 
and was intended to prepare men's minds for the coming and 
brighter revelation in the person of Jesus Christ. 2 (For a full 
development of this doctrine see St. Thomas, Summa Contra 
Gentiles, 1. iii. c. 37, 63, 73, 147, 153.) 

2 Heb. i. 1, 2. 



To Secure His Supreme End 265 



CHAPTER IV 

THE INFINITE MERITS OF CHRIST AND THEIR 
APPLICATION 

380. The Son of God in carrying out the great work of Re- 
demption has so harmonized the interests of our salvation with 
the claims of divine justice that the forgiveness of sin 
could be obtained not only once but hundreds, thousands, nay, 
millions of times, that is, whenever men should fall away from 
grace, forfeit their privilege of children of God and heirs to His 
kingdom; so long as they would sincerely repent. This is evi- 
dently a display of mercy unheard of among men, and utterly 
incomprehensible. Has there ever been a prince, king, or mon- 
arch so clement and merciful as to be willing to forgive the 
crime of high treason or enormous outrages perpetrated against 
him, whenever they might be committed, on the simple condi- 
tion that the criminal plead for mercy? We should scarcely 
find a ruler willing to pardon such heinous crimes even once or 
twice. But the Lord not only forgives sinners countless times, 
but makes mortal sin, in itself irremissible, pardonable by 
the application of the infinite merits of Christ's passion and 
death, an inexhaustible wealth of divine satisfactions, without 
which redemption would be of no avail to us. 

381. Let us also consider the great facility with which this 
treasure is applied and communicated to our souls to cleanse 
them from all stains. If long, laborious, severe penances should 
have to be endured in order to blot out deadly sins closing 
heaven's portals against us, we should not recoil from the ardu- 
ous task. But how does the case stand ? All that God requires 
— and He could not demand less consistently with His justice — 
is sincere repentance and compliance, whenever possible, with 
the Divine Ordinance, to which God has attached the grace of 
pardon through the intervention of His minister in the sacra- 
ment of Penance. Admirable indeed is the exhibition of divine 
mercy, on account of which to no one, however guilty, is closed 
the door of reconciliation, so long as he is willing to accept from 
God's hand the offer of pardon on the simple, most reasonable 
condition of true repentance and honest resolution of amend- 
ment and reform. No kind, no number, no gravity of sins ever 
impedes the facility of absolution. Its efficacy is instantaneous. 
The priest's word is spoken, his sentence is ratified in heaven, 
and the mighty work is done. A sinner of forty, fifty years 
or more becomes again the child of God and the heir of His 
kingdom. But, what is still more wonderful and an evident 
manifestation of divine mercy, the requisites for absolution are 
always within the compass of human weakness; that is, attri- 



266 How God Helps Man 

tion, at least imperfect sorrow, sincere confession, the priest's 
absolution and an honest resolution of amendment. This is all 
that the Lord demands of Christian believers, and consistently 
with His wisdom and justice He could not require less. It is 
true that all our acts of repentance lie at an infinite distance 
from the degree of reparation due to God even for only one 
grievous sin and the grace of deliverance from the eternal pun- 
ishment due to it in the world to come ; but by the intervention 
of the sacraments, and the application of the merits of Jesus 
Christ, through those channels of grace, our acts of contrition, 
penance, and satisfaction are rendered fully acceptable to the 
divine justice and worthy of imploring and obtaining the needed 
pardon of all sins. The chief benefit, then, of the new law, the 
law of grace, is found in the institution and use of the sacra- 
ments, in which is stored up the divine treasure of the infinite 
merits of Christ applicable to all who worthily approach them. 
And this is the reason why the devil, the sworn enemy of the 
human race, knowing their efficacy for salvation, strives to per- 
vert and corrupt the true conception of them, thus to prevent 
men from frequenting them. 

Unhappily he partially succeeded in his fiendish scheme at 
the time of the so-called Reformation in the sixteenth century, 
the fatal results of which have lasted even to this day. Several 
of the sacraments have been thrown overboard, and the few 
that were retained have been so desecrated and perverted that 
in many cases they can no longer produce the effects intended 
by Christ in their primitive institution ; namely, blotting out sin, 
and imparting sanctifying grace for the salvation of men. 

382. With regard to the partaking of the infinite merits of 
Christ, a difficulty is sometimes proposed which calls for an 
answer. The merits of Christ, it is said, are no doubt of infi- 
nite value; therefore, whenever they are applied to us, we be- 
come, by that very fact, entitled to a reward infinite in its ex- 
tent. Therefore all those who will share in Christ's merits, 
will receive in heaven the same degree of happiness. 

Our answer is that the conclusion is far from being correct. 
For though Christ's merits are applied to countless individuals, 
they do not produce in all the recipients the same effects, for 
these vary according to each one's disposition, and consequent 
divine measure and dispensation. The Holy Ghost is given to 
all who are sanctified and become the sons of God through sacra- 
mental grace, yet they are not all equally holy ; for though they 
all possess that divine gift, yet they do not possess it in equal 
measure. For the same reason the merits of Christ are com- 
municated and applied to souls in different degrees of abun- 
dance and perfection. Therefore, though they are in themselves 
infinite, they are not applied infinitely, that is, so as to produce 
infinite effects in the recipients. 



To Secure His Supreme End 267 

We see, then, the sublime purpose of the Incarnation: it is 
the establishing of a most intimate, close relation between our- 
selves and God, whereby all mankind is ennobled beyond all 
conception. Through Christ's merits we have been enriched 
with that highest of gifts, sanctifying grace, which enables us 
to be called, and actually to be the children of God and the heirs 
of His Kingdom. This is precisely the thought of the Apostle 
St. John, who wrote thus : ' ' Dearly beloved, we are now the 
sons of God: and it had not yet appeared what we shall be. 
We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like to Him, 
because we shall see Him as He is." f 

Grace lifts us above the highest and sublimest nature. In 
the order of creation the angels are above men; yet, when God's 
grace enters into our heart, it raises us, as though by a single 
bound, far above the sublimest seraphim, if we consider them 
in their nature alone and apart from grace. 



CHAPTER V 

THE CATHOLIC DOCTRINE OF CHRIST'S ATONEMENT 
FOR THE SINS OF MEN 

383. Holy Scripture in numerous passages of both Testa- 
ments bears testimony to the reality of a vicarious atonement 
offered by Christ through His passion and death for the expia- 
tion of men's sin. 

Isaias, prophetically using the past for the future, thus speaks 
of the special purpose of the sufferings of the Messias: ''He 
was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins. ' ' 1 
According to St. Paul, atonement for sin was the principal ob- 
ject of the Saviour's coming into the world — "Christ died for 
us . . . when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by 
the death of His Son." 2 

384. For reasons worthy of His infinite justice and wisdom, 
God did not wish to restore us to His grace, friendship, and love 
by an act of free pardon without exacting any reparation, as 
He might have done. Along with His goodness and mercy, He 
also intended to manifest His justice by making our reconcilia- 
tion conditional on a complete and real atonement offered by the 
sacrifice of His own Son, thus verifying the prophetic utter- 
ance of the Royal Psalmist : ' ' Mercy and Truth have met each 
other : justice and peace have kissed. ' ' 3 Therefore, according 
to God's merciful plan of redemption, Our Saviour's death is 
truly the effective cause of our salvation, because God wished to 
make the pardon of sin subordinate to the merits of Jesus Christ. 
Hence, answering the Apostle Thomas, Jesus said: "I am the 

tl John iii 2. 1 Is. liii. 5 2 Rom. v. 9, 10. 3 p s . lxxxiv. 11. 



268 How God Helps Man 

way, the truth and the life. No man cometh to the Father but 
by Me. ' ' 4 John the Baptist spoke thus : ' ' He that believeth in 
the Son hath life everlasting ; but he that believeth not the Son 
shall not see life ; but the wrath of God abideth on him. ' ' 5 

What the Master and His Precursor taught Peter preached, 
thus addressing the assembled members of the Synagogue: 
"Be it known to you all and to all the people of Israel, that by 
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you cruci- 
fied, whom God hath raised from the dead, even by Him, this 
man [the cripple miraculously cured] standeth here before you, 
whole. . . . Neither is there salvation in any other. For there 
is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must 
be saved. ' ' 6 

If the justice of God demanded a perfect expiation and ade- 
quate satisfaction on man's part for sin, it would clearly be be- 
yond his power to comply. Hence the necessity of the perfect 
expiation and full satisfaction accomplished by Christ's passion 
and death, whose merits applied to the sinner immensely facili- 
tate his reconciliation. 

385. But this does not exclude our own co-operation when- 
ever possible; on the contrary, God's wisdom and justice per- 
emptorily demand it. The initiative of our salvation is indeed 
God's mercy obtained for us by the merits of His Divine Son; 
but their application needs our correspondence to the Lord's 
merciful designs. For this reason St. Paul writing to the Philip- 
pians thus exhorts them: "My dearly beloved . . . with fear 
and trembling work out your salvation. ' ' 7 The very same 
truth is inculcated by the Prince of the Apostles in his second 
Epistle : ' ' Brethren, labor the more that by good works you may 
make sure your calling and election." 8 

386. The Christian doctrine on the atonement, as stated in the 
pages of Holy Writ, and as held by the Catholic Church, may 
be summed up as follows : 

God's offended majesty exacted a reparation, a satisfaction 
that involved the death of His Incarnate Son, the God-man, and 
therefore the sacrifice of the Saviour's own life, which alone 
could offer a satisfaction fully equal to the gravity of the of- 
fense. There was need of a perennial object lesson, that of the 
crucifix, to bring home to thoughtless, reckless men and women 
both the gravity of sin and the inexorable justice of God. Their 
minds and hearts could be roused to hatred of the divine offense, 
and timely repentance only be a peal of thunder that causes the 
very earth to rock beneath their feet. This must have been one 
of the lessons taught by the formidable events that accompanied 
the death of the Redeemer of the World, when, as we read in St. 
Matthew's Gospel, "the earth quaked, and the rocks were rent 

* John xiv. 6. 5 John iii. 36. e Acts iv. 10, 12. 7 Philipp. ii. 12. 

s 2 Peter i. 10. 



To Secure His Supreme End 269 

and the graves were opened ; and many bodies of the saints that 
had slept arose. ' ' 9 

387. One drop of the Saviour's precious blood, it is true, suf- 
ficed for man's redemption. But what was sufficient for our 
Redemption, God foresaw would not be sufficient for our in- 
struction. Hence the tragedy of Calvary. And what a tragedy ! 
His venerable head was pierced with sharp thorns; His face 
was defiled by the spittings of the contemptible rabble that sur- 
rounded Him. His eyes, that looked so mercifully upon sinners, 
were darkened at the painful agony. His ears, so ready to 
listen to all supplications, are stunned by horrid blasphemies. 
His mouth, always open to teach heavenly doctrines, is made 
bitter by the potion of vinegar and gall. His shoulders, on 
which as the Good Shepherd He was prepared to carry the lost 
sheep, were pressed down by the weight of the cross. The hands 
that had been stretched out to cure countless diseases were 
transfixed with cruel nails. His feet, that traveled from place 
to place to announce to the multitudes the good tidings of salva- 
tion, were fastened to the wood of the cross. His sacred body, 
torn by scourges, was bleeding from head to foot. His tongue, 
that was pleading for mercy to His executioners, was made to 
taste the bitter beverage administered in His agony. And after 
His death His most loving heart was transpierced with a lance, 
so that all might see in that large, open wound the most evident 
proof of His mercy, compassion, and love toward all repenting 
sinners. 

388. To teach us the gravity of the several kinds of sin, Christ 
endured special tortures, both to reveal to men their malice, and 
to atone for each of them in particular. Thus He was scourged 
at the pillar to satisfy for the sins of lust. He was crowned 
with thorns to atone for thoughts of hatred and for unchaste 
desires. He suffered on the cross a most intense thirst to satisfy 
for the sins of intemperance ; and the same may be said of other 
tortures endured by our loving Saviour to atone for other crimi- 
nal offenses against God's supreme majesty. 

But here some one might say : ' ' Was not our blessed Saviour 
scourged at the pillar, crowned with thorns, and nailed to the 
cross to save us from sin and hell?" Yes, indeed, we answer, 
but on one necessary, indispensable condition, that you hate sin, 
seek reconciliation with your offended Maker, and resolve to sin 
no more. Whoever fails to carry out such a resolution places 
himself beyond the reach of Christ's redeeming blood. 

If a spark of gratitude remains in the heart of believing Chris- 
tians, they should never forget the deep meaning contained in 
the prophetic words of Isaias, announcing the coming of the 
Messias, whose future sufferings had been revealed to him in a 
vision ; hence the reason why he prophetically uses the past tense 

» Matt, xxvii. 51, 52. 



270 Row God Helps Man 

instead of the future: "Surely He hath borne our infirmities, 
and carried our sorrows ; He was wounded for our iniquities, He 
was bruised for our sins. " 10 He not only undertook to expiate 
our sins, but also subjected Himself to all our miseries — barring 
sin — and rendered them for us meritorious of heavenly recom- 
pense. And by His own example and help He encourages us 
to bear them with patience, so that they may be available for 
eternal life. St. Augustine, treating of this subject, says: 
' 1 No pride can be cured which is not healed by the humiliation of 
the Son of God. No avarice can be remedied, if the poverty of 
the Son of God will not do it. No impiety can be subdued which 
resists the charity and love of the Son of God." 

389. As a fitting conclusion to this chapter we submit to our 
readers the following quotation from St. Isidore, Doctor of God 's 
Church, and a most distinguished ornament of the Spanish 
episcopate. He discourses of the three reasons and three ef- 
fects of the passion of our Divine Lord: 

' ' The first was the redemption of the world. The second was 
to impart to men the doctrine of life, for He ascended the cross 
to furnish to them an example both by His passion, and by His 
resurrection. By His passion to strengthen them in their suf- 
ferings; by His resurrection to excite their hope. He thus ex- 
hibited to us in His flesh two lives — one laborious, the other 
blissful; that we might patiently bear the former and confi- 
dently hope for the latter. The third cause or reason why He 
assumed our flesh was to crush the pride and puffed-up wis- 
dom of the world by what is called the foolish teaching of the 
cross. ' ' 

"We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews indeed a stum- 
bling-block, and unto the Gentiles foolishness; but unto them 
that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, 
and the wisdom of God." 11 

From the beginning to the end of His earthly life we behold 
in Christ manifold vicissitudes and scenes, all directed to the 
instruction and edification of men, in whose behalf He under- 
went them. He lay in a stable as a pauper ; He wept in a manger 
as an infant; He fled into Egypt as an exile; He worked at 
Nazareth as a laborer; He received baptism as if He had been 
a sinner ; He was tempted as a man ; He taught in the synagogue 
as a master; He healed the sick as a physician; He entered 
Jerusalem on Palm Sunday as a conqueror ; He washed the feet 
of His disciples as a servant; He was bound with cords as a 
thief; He was accused as seducer of the people, ridiculed as a 
fool ; scourged as a slave, crowned with thorns as a menial king ; 
condemned to death as a blasphemer, crucified as a robber ; and 
arose gloriously from the tomb as the God-man. 

As the saintly Fr. F. W. Faber writes, ' ' The passion and hell 

io Is. liii. 4, 5. ii 1 Cor. i. 23, 24. 



To Secure His Supreme End 271 

are the two great foundations out of which men learn a pro- 
found hatred of sin ; they are the two wellheads of sacred fear ; 
they are two revelations of God most necessary to complete a 
true idea of Him. ' ' 12 

As the treasures of Christ's redemption, atonement, and merits, 
and the manner and means of their application have been di- 
vinely revealed, it is quite proper for us to inquire here what 
should be man's attitude toward divine revelation. 



CHAPTER VI 

WHAT SHOULD BE A MAN'S ATTITUDE TOWARD DI- 
VINE REVELATION? THE DUTY OF A MAN WHO 
KNOWS THAT SUCH A REVELATION EXISTS 
AND OF HIM WHO IS DOUBTFUL ABOUT IT 

390. If the fact is once admitted that God made a revelation 
to mankind, man is naturally bound to receive it and to act upon 
it. Such an individual knows for certain that the Lord God 
has revealed some definite truths to be believed and some special 
obligations to be fulfilled. It is easy to see that he should 
humbly accept those truths and faithfully fulfil those obliga- 
tions, thus conforming himself completely to the exigency of 
that revelation by believing it and acting upon it, according to 
the will of the Divine Revealer, his Creator and Lord. If, on 
the contrary, he should refuse to submit to such a revelation, he 
would commit a grievous violation of the natural law. For if 
he neglects to accept what God has revealed, it must be either 
because he supposes Him capable of deceiving him, by announc- 
ing what might not after all be true; or because he supposes 
that, when God speaks to men, or even performs miracles to au- 
thenticate His words, He is quite indifferent whether they will 
listen to Him or not ; or again because He does not wish to sub- 
mit to the divine will, made known to him through the revela- 
tion. 

In all these three hypotheses he acts in direct opposition to 
the most peremptory duty, binding every rational creature to 
its sovereign Creator and greatest Benefactor. In fact, in the 
first case he denies God's omniscience and impugns His veracity. 
Secondly, He does a grievous injury to God's wisdom by in- 
ferring that He does not care whether His creatures accept or 
reject the truths He reveals to them. Thirdly, he rebels against 
God's supreme dominion over His creatures^ a dominion which 
the Lord cannot abdicate, and from submission to which no 
rational being can be exempt. 

When the fact of divine revelation is once ascertained, it is 

12 Spiritual Conferences, p. 418. 



272 Row God Helps Man 

plain that it is God's will that the revealed truths should be ac- 
cepted and believed and His commands obeyed. 

The ethical argument will lead us to the same conclusion. 
Obligation, as all moralists teach us, is not a mere convention- 
ality, is not a simple name, but a stern reality. In virtue of it 
man is really and truly obliged in conscience to perform certain 
actions and to avoid others, whence spring his manifold duties 
to God, to himself, and to his fellow-men. Now, owing to the 
undeniable fact that God, as Creator, holds over man a supreme, 
inalienable, eternal dominion, it follows that every human in- 
dividual, as His creature and subject, is bound in conscience to 
submit to his Creator and sovereign Ruler's commands. One 
such command is that which imposes on all men the imperative 
duty to accept His revelation whenever it be sufficiently known 
to them as God's message to mankind. 

391. And what should be the line of conduct to be adopted by 
those, who, from conversation with instructed Catholics, and 
from the perusal of Christian literature, have gathered informa- 
tion enough to be at least in a state of positive doubt concerning 
the actual existence of an authentic divine revelation? May 
they safely remain in such a condition of serious doubt and ' ' take 
their chances," as some deluded people are wont to say? No, 
by no means. Let them pray for light from above, and hon- 
estly inquire into the evidences of divine truth, and their doubts 
will soon disappear. 

All theologians agree on this point, that only a morally cer- 
tain conscience constitutes a right rule of conduct. St. Paul, 
writing to the Romans, says: "All that is not of faith is 
sin." x As commentators observe, by "faith" is here understood 
judgment, conscience. The Apostle, then, meant to teach by 
those words that it is not lawful to follow a conscience that is 
practically doubtful. 2 

It has been shown in Part I that the end of man is the super- 
natural possession of God in the life to come. He is therefore 
conscientiously bound to use all the means available to him for 
securing the attainment of this end. 

Among these means is reckoned membership with the super- 
natural society which has been divinely instituted for this very 
purpose, to enable man to reach his end. It is, therefore, the 
peremptory duty of every man to become a member of the 
Church and obey its laws. Membership in the Church is a posi- 
tion which entails duties, but to which also priceless privileges 
are attached. Chief among them is the right of participation in 
the sacraments, the principal means or channels by which the 
merits of the passion and death of Christ are applied to indi- 
viduals for the express purpose of leading them to eternal sal- 
vation. 3 

i Rom. xiv. 23 2 Ojetti, Synopsis, vol. i. p. 1330, 3 ed. 

3 See Hunter's Outlines of Dogmatic Theology, vol. i. p. 244. 



To Secure His Supreme End 273 

When Almighty God, our Sovereign Lord and Master, conde- 
scends to reveal to man what he should believe, and what he 
should do to obtain his end ; that is, to secure the eternal salva- 
tion of his immortal soul, should man remain indifferent? 
May he, with impunity, neglect to ascertain where such a revela- 
tion is to be found, and who is its legitimate, authorized inter- 
preter? And if, upon honest inquiry, such a revelation be pre- 
sented to him with more than sufficient evidence of its being 
divine truth, may he refuse to accept it, except at the peril of 
being punished for his rebellion? Nothing is more necessary 
and important for man to know than his true end and how it is 
to be attained. Divine Providence made ample provision for 
that purpose. Hence man's utter neglect on this subject makes 
him guilty of unpardonable contempt before his Supreme Judge 
and at the same time it renders him amenable to the punitive 
sanction for the transgression of God's holy laws. To such are 
applicable the following words of Jesus Christ: "But he that 
shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, shall never have forgive- 
ness, but shall be guilty of an everlasting sin. " 4 By the sin 
against the Holy Ghost is meant obstinate resistance to the grace 
of the Holy Spirit, an utter neglect, contempt and rejection of 
divine revelation. 



CHAPTER VII 

MAY A MAN EVER JUSTIFY HIS NEGLECT OF DIVINE 
REVELATION? 

392. Some do so on the plea of the lawful exercise of their 
liberty, the power of doing what they will. Whoever reasons 
in this fashion commits more than one philosophical blunder and 
cannot shirk the responsibility consequent on the omission of a 
most sacred, imperative duty, that of accepting a fully authen- 
ticated divine revelation. 

The foregoing plea implies that a man may lawfully — that 
is, legitimately and conscientiously — do all that he is capable 
of doing by the exercise of his liberty. Now, such a principle 
is radically wrong, for it confounds physical power with moral 
right, that is, physical with moral liberty. As sound philosophy 
teaches, there are countless cases in which we may not be allowed, 
on moral and legal grounds, to do what we can do by our phys- 
ical powers. In other words, physical liberty is freedom from 
violence or coercion ; moral liberty is the absence of any prohi- 
bition from legitimate authority. Thus we are all physically free 
to violate the laws of God, for instance, to reject divine revela- 
tion ; but we are not free to do so morally, for we cannot trans- 

* Mark iii. 29. 



274 How God Helps Man 

gress those laws without doing wrong and rendering ourselves 
amenable to punishment. 

Moreover, the question we are answering takes it for granted 
that every use of liberty, whether good or bad, implies the exer- 
cise of real power, an assertion wandering far from the truth. 
For the possibility of doing evil through the abuse of liberty 
is a veritable imperfection ; it is not the exercise, but the want of 
power in human will here on earth. As no man will see a sign 
of mental strength in the possibility of reasoning erroneously, 
so no evidence of true power is exhibited by him who uses, or 
rather abuses, his liberty in doing wrong. We may, therefore, 
say that to choose evil, to break the moral law, far from being 
a true power, is, on the contrary, one of the greatest marks of 
weakness, a veritable imperfection inherent to our present con- 
dition on earth. 

Therefore, there can be true liberty without the power of 
choosing evil, of doing wrong. God is the freest of beings, and 
yet He can commit no sin. The angels and the elect in heaven 
possess free will, and yet they are absolutely impeccable, as fully 
explained in Part IV. 

One of the most fatal illusions prevailing in the world is the be- 
lief, sometimes approaching conviction, that one may consider 
himself an honest, just, upright man so long as he discharges all 
his duties toward society and his fellow-creatures. 

In the first place, we ask, does such an individual really fulfil 
all his obligations toward society and his fellow-beings by 
setting before them the pernicious example of irreligion, by 
scandalizing his brethren, by weakening their faith by his in- 
difference, and by killing it altogether by his contempt of the 
Christian religion? 

And what about the duties toward ourselves, the principal of 
which is the duty of perfecting ourselves by striving to approach 
the highest standard of perfection, God Himself, proposed by 
Christ in His Gospel to the imitation of all men? "Be you 
perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect. ' ' 1 

Only atheists assert that we have no duties toward God, for 
they deny His very existence. 

Can a Christian render to each one what is due to him, if he 
excludes Almighty God, to whom all is due? 

Does the Lord bind us to be just, grateful, and loving toward 
all except toward Himself, who is essential justice, boundless 
benevolence, and perfect love? Can that man, then, be called 
just, honest, and upright, who neglects his first and most per- 
emptory duty — the worship of God, the acceptance of His revela- 
tion, and the fulfilment of the obligations which it imposes ? 

iMatt. v. 48. 



To Secure His Supreme End 275 



CHAPTER VIII 

ADDITIONAL EXPLANATIONS OF THE CATHOLIC 
DOCTRINE ON HUMAN LIBERTY 

393. Our salvation depends on our free co-operation with God 's 
grace by the right use of our liberty. According to Holy Scrip- 
ture, human liberty is threefold: the liberty of nature, the lib- 
erty of grace and the liberty of glory. By the first, inherent 
in our nature, we are freed from any intrinsic necessity or 
compulsion; by the second we are delivered from the slavery 
of sin ; by the third we are exempted from every kind of misery. 

The first — that is, natural liberty — is received at creation, and 
is clearly described in the Book of Ecclesiasticus : "God made 
man from the beginning and left him in the hands of his own 
counsel. . . . Before man is life and death, good and evil, that 
which he shall choose shall be given him. " x To enable man to 
make a legitimate and eternally beneficial use of that precious 
gift, ' ' The Lord added His commandments and precepts, ' ' 2 that 
their observance might infallibly lead him to the attainment of 
his last end, everlasting happiness. 

Of the same natural liberty St. Paul writes as follows in his 
first Epistle to the Corinthians: "He that hath determined 
. . . having no necessity, but having power of his own will. ' ' 3 
Deny this liberty and what would be the result? It would fol- 
low that the greatest hero in the moral world would be no better 
than the worst criminal that ever lived, for both would be in- 
evitably determined to their actions, whether good or evil. Only 
freedom differentiates a knave from a saint in the moral order. 

The second — that is, the liberty of grace, or freedom from 
sin — we receive in redemption through Christ's sacramental 
grace, particularly through Baptism and Penance. Our Blessed 
Saviour said: "Amen, Amen, I say unto you; that whosoever 
committeth sin is the servant of sin." 4 And it was precisely to 
deliver us from the slavery of sin that He came to live among 
sinners. In fact, the whole purpose or object of our Redeemer 's 
mission is summarily contained in the following words of St. 
Paul : ' ' That the body of sin ma} 7- be destroyed to the end that 
we may serve sin no longer." 5 

To the Jews who said: "We have never been slaves to any 
man," Jesus answered: "If the Son shall make you free, you 
shall be free indeed. ' ' 6 

Thirdly, we shall possess the liberty of glory, immunity from 
all sufferings, when we shall reach life eternal. 

lEcclus. xv. 14, 18. 2 ibid. xv. 15. 3 1 Cor. vii. 37 * John viii. 34. 

s Rom. vi 6. e John viii. 33, 36. 



276 How God Helps Man 

394. As in the course of our treatise we frequently refer to 
man's liberty, we deem it advisable to state here the teaching of 
Catholic philosophy on this subject. We must distinguish three 
kinds of liberty, the exact knowledge of which is needed to pre- 
vent misconception and misunderstanding on this vital question. 
The first is freedom from extrinsic coercion or immunity from 
violence or force impeding man's free activitv. This is styled 
physical liberty. The second is freedom from intrinsic ne- 
cessity, in virtue of which a rational agent, when all conditions 
for acting are present, may perform a given action or not ac- 
cording to the deliberation of his will. The third kind of free- 
dom implies an agent's untrammeled activity, so long as he is 
not bound by any moral obligation forbidding a certain line of 
actions. This is called moral liberty. 

In accordance with these principles of right reason, sanc- 
tioned by Christian faith, a man may be free to stand or to 
walk; he may feel no interior compulsion interfering with his 
deliberations. But in the exercise of his liberty he cannot ex- 
empt himself from complying with the ordinances of his lawful 
superior regulating his moral conduct and forbidding some de- 
termined line of action. 

A correct conception of liberty is contained in the following 
sentence: " Etre libre c'est faire ce qu y on veut, en faisant ce 
qu' on doit." — "To be free is to do what one wills, whilst doing 
what one ought." To act on this principle is to make a lawful 
use of one 's liberty, or free will. 

395. But here some might take exception to the last statement 
and say: The very essence of liberty consists in the power of 
choosing either good or evil. As liberty, a natural gift, remains 
intact in all rational creatures, and therefore in the blessed, we 
must conclude that they will forever be able to choose either 
good or evil. They cannot, therefore, be said to be impeccable 
and immutable, for moral immutability, of which we here speak, 
is a perfection proper of God alone. 

Answer: This difficulty, revived in our days, is of very an- 
cient date. It was first devised by Origen and was intended to 
justify one of his erroneous doctrines regarding the condition 
of the saints in heaven. He held and taught that, owing to their 
possession of the gift of liberty, they could fall away from grace, 
repent, and then again prevaricate, thus passing through a cycle 
of successive, indefinite transmutations. This error was con- 
demned by Pope Vigilius about the year 550. 7 

But let us address ourselves to the difficulty stated above. 
The whole structure of Origen 's reasoning rests on a false foun- 
dation, that is, on an erroneous conception of liberty. As sound 
philosophy teaches us, by "liberty" is meant the faculty and 
right to choose by oneself without hindrance. It implies im- 

7 See D. Enchiridion, p. 87. 



To Secure His Supreme End 277 

munity from any external or internal constraint. Hence it does 
not involve the power or right to choose evil, as the objection 
assumes. The so-called power or right to choose evil, to trans- 
gress the moral law, to stray from our last end, far from being 
a true power, is, on the contrary, an imperfection inherent to 
our will as long as we are on earth during the trial proper of the 
present life. Neither may it be called a right to do evil, for if 
it were a right, no one could be punished for evil-doing. In 
fact, God, though the freest of beings, cannot will anything 
but what is good : and the saints in heaven, though enjoying full 
liberty, will never choose evil; therefore they shall never for- 
feit their present happiness by the commission of sin. As to 
the attribute of immutability, God alone is essentially immutable : 
the saints are immutable not by essence or nature, but by par- 
ticipation in the degree that can be communicated to creatures. 

It is gratifying to be able to confirm the preceding explana- 
tion by the authority of two distinguished Doctors of Holy 
Church, St. Anselm and St. Thomas. The former, quoted by the 
Angelical, speaks as follows: "The faculty or power of com- 
mitting sin is not a part of true liberty." 

"I do not think that liberty consists in the power of sinning 
or not sinning, for, if such were the definition of liberty, neither 
God nor the angels could be said to be free, since they cannot 
sin." 8 

Let us see what the Calvinists and the Presbyterians of the 
sixteenth century held on the subject of liberty. We find it 
distinctly stated in the Westminster Confession of Faith, the 
authorized exponent of their creed. In Chapter IX "Of Free 
Will," N. Ill, we read: "Man, by the fall into a state of sin, 
hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accom- 
panying salvation." This doctrine is diametrically opposed to 
the teaching of the Catholic Church, who holds that, though 
grace is necessary for salvation, yet man, even after the fall, 
that is, after contracting the stain of original sin, is free either 
to respond to the motions of grace or to resist them. This may 
be called the perversion of man's liberty in the spiritual or su- 
pernatural order. 9 

The concept of liberty in the natural order has been thor- 
oughly misconstrued and perverted by three modern philoso- 
phers of the rationalistic school, Immanuel Kant, Herbert Spen- 
cer, and John Stuart Mill. 

Kant: "Every one is free to seek his own happiness in the 
way that seems good to himself, so long as he does not infringe 
the freedom of others." 

Spencer : ' ' Every man may do that which he wills, provided 
he does not interfere with the equal freedom of any other man. ' ' 

s De Veritate, q. xxiv., art. 10. See part iv, ch. v, vi. 

9 Schaff, vol. iii. p. 623. 



278 How God Helps Man 

Mill: "The only part of the conduct of any one, for which 
he is amenable to society, is that which concerns others. In the 
part which merely concerns himself, his independence is of 
right, absolute." 

Hence, according to this new ethical theory, every man is at 
liberty to do whatever he pleases, and to break every command- 
ment of the Decalogue a hundred times a day, on the sole con- 
dition that none of his fellow-creatures is made to suffer by it. 
To act on this immoral principle is to remove every restraint 
from human passions, and to sanction the most criminal con- 
duct. 10 

St. Augustine, recalling the blessings of redemption, present 
and future, thus addressed his Christian brethren: "Why are 
you sad? Why should you care for this world's paltry goods? 
You have a heavenly Father to think of and provide for you; 
you are destined for. a heavenly country, eternal happiness." 
Listen to the cheering words of the beloved disciple: "Dearly 
beloved, we are now the sons of God, and it hath not yet ap- 
peared what we shall be. We know that when He shall appear, 
we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. ' ' u 

We insert here a few additional reflections concerning God's 
plan in men's salvation and their co-operation: 

396. The words of Christ to the Jews of Capharnaum, "This 
is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that if any man 
eat of it, he may not die. ' ' 12 And those addressed to Martha, 
sister of Lazarus : "He that believeth in Me, though he be dead, 
shall live ; and every one that liveth and believeth in Me shall not 
die forever. ' ' 13 These words, I say, do not mean that the 
worthy reception of the body and blood of Christ is Holy Com- 
munion, together with belief in Christ, were to deliver us from 
death and the corruption of the grave, for after Christ 's redemp- 
tion, quite as much as before it, we all are subject to the sentence 
pronounced against Adam : ' ' Dust thou art, and into dust thou 
shalt return. " 14 

In accordance with God's most wise and just counsels, the 
mystery of Christ's Incarnation and Redemption was not to de- 
liver us from the miseries and evils of the present life, particu- 
larly death and the corruption of our bodies in the grave, but 
to free us from the cause of those evils, i. e., sin, the consequences 
of which the Divine Redeemer was sent to remedy and repair. 

Here we must not overlook the fact that another highly benefi- 
cent fruit of redeeming grace enables us to turn all the suffer- 
ings, trials, and evils of time into sources of merit for life 
eternal, according to St. Paul's words: "To them that love 
God, all things work together unto good." 15 

10 Faith and Folly, by Msgr. Vaughan, p. 302. Second ed. 

ill John iii. 2. 12 John vi. 50. 1 3 John xi. 25, 26. 1* Gen. iii. 19. 

is Rom. viii. 28. 



To Secure His Supreme End 279 

Hence in both the above-mentioned passages of St. John's 
Gospel (vi. 50; xi. 25, 26), Christ spoke not of immunity or de- 
liverance from natural death, but of the glorious, immortal life 
of the risen bodies of all who die in Christ. "Blessed are the 
dead who die in the Lord. . . . That they may rest from their 
labors; for their works follow them." 16 To this triumphant 
resurrection our Blessed Saviour referred when He said : "He 
that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood hath everlasting life, 
and I will raise Him up in the last day." 17 

397. The real question is not whether the salvation of all men 
is the will of God, as undoubtedly it is, but whether He wills to 
force salvation on unwilling recipients. Such a view is not only 
in direct contradiction to the letter and spirit of Holy Scripture, 
but to all we know of God's attributes and of our own mental 
faculties. If man is a moral agent, free to accept or refuse the 
gracious offer of Redemption, no multiplicity of assertions of 
the universality of that offer can disprove the sad fact of such 
offer of grace being rejected by the obstinacy of some individuals, 
who thus frustrate God's benevolent designs. Universalists are 
wont to fill pages with passages from the Scripture, asserting 
the many offers of grace tendered to sinners, God's will that 
all men should be saved, the shedding of Christ's blood for the 
salvation of all men, etc. Such statements, which may be multi- 
plied indefinitely, are indeed conclusive against the heretical 
Calvinistic doctrine that Christ died only for the elect, but they 
leave untouched the further question, which depends not on the 
will of God, but on that of men, whether all will in fact avail 
themselves of the proffered gift. It is a rule not merely of 
Scriptural exegesis, but of common sense, to interpret what is 
doubtful or obscure by what is clear and explicit, not vice versa. 
By acting on this rule, different quotations bearing on the same 
subject are completely harmonized, and all apparent contradic- 
tion between texts is entirely eliminated. 



CHAPTER IX 

ACTION OF GOD AND RESPONSIBILITY OF MAN IN 
THE BUSINESS OF SALVATION 



As it will be demonstrated at full length in Part VI fol- 
lowing, hell and its torments are constantly declared in Holy 
Writ to be not of God's but of man's making. St. Bernard 
uttered a great truth when he said: "Tantummodo humana 
voluntas ardet in inferno/' — "Only human will burns in hell." 
is Apoc. xiv. 13. 1 7 John vi. 55. 



280 How God Helps Man 

Man was endowed by His Creator with every power and faculty 
for enjoying happiness, both here and hereafter. And it is 
clearly God's earnest desire that all men should attain the end 
for which they exist. He made ample provision for the efface- 
ment of sin so that even the most inveterate transgressor might 
be restored to His favor. Through the Church, its ministers, 
and the most loyal portion of Christ's flock, most fervent appeals 
are continually made to God on behalf of poor sinners. In the 
sacramental system most efficacious spiritual helps are treasured 
up, available whenever needed, and infallible in their effects, 
so long as they are worthily received. Through them the soul 
is enabled to conquer its most formidable enemies, and overcome 
the most persistent opposition from the world, the devil, and 
the flesh. We are intimately conscious of the fact that we ma}^ 
at any moment exercise the power of choice in any direction. 
There are, no doubt, influences at work in determining our 
choice ; personal inclinations and surroundings must be reckoned 
with. Yet it is certain that, aided by divine grace, placed at 
our disposal in answer to prayer, we may, by a brave, powerful 
effort of the will, act directly contrary to all opposing obstacles, 
and allow a higher motive to overcome and victoriously crush 
them. 

We have seen what is the doctrine of the Catholic Church 
regarding man's salvation, which has been proved to depend 
on his free, deliberate co-operation with divine grace ; a doctrine, 
which, while safeguarding the liberty of man, asserts at the 
same time the necessity of the grace of God — a heavenly gift 
promised and given to all, and amply sufficient to enable them 
to attain their last end, the eternal salvation of their soul. 

St. Augustine, in his usual ingenious language, summed up 
that doctrine in the two following brief sentences: "Were it 
not for the grace of Christ, how could God save the world? . . . 
And were it not for the liberty of man, how could God judge 
the world?" As will be seen in the next chapter, if we con- 
trast the Catholic doctrine on predestination with Calvin's hor- 
rible creed, it will be easy to determine which of the two sys- 
tems, the Catholic or the Calvinist, can be said to be in harmony 
with God's attributes, with Holy Scripture and tradition, with 
the testimony of the Holy Fathers, and with the dictates of hu- 
man reason and common sense. 

399. A fairly complete treatment of the divine provisions for 
the eternal salvation of such persons as may live and die out- 
side the pale of the Catholic Church does not precisely lie within 
the scope of our work; and any attempted discussion of the 
topic would unduly swell the size of our volume. 

We will, however, briefly set down some considerations bear- 
ing on this subject and quote some Papal documents with a 
view to justify Divine Providence, and repel the common 



To Secure His Supreme End 281 

charges of injustice brought against it by rationalists and ill- 
instructed Christians. 

The formula, "Outside of the Church there is no salvation," 
has always seemed to our non-Catholic friends a hard and in- 
tolerant doctrine; but when well understood it appears to be 
neither intolerant nor uncharitable. No man ever comes to the 
exercise of reason and the age of responsibility without obtain- 
ing from God sufficient aid to save his soul. No one is excluded 
from the redeeming atonement and merits of Christ. "God, 
our Saviour, will have all men to be saved and to come to the 
knowledge of the truth. " 1 To enable all men always to have at 
hand the means of salvation, Christ established His Church, 
endowing it with the following characteristic notes, in it alone 
fully verified: Holiness, Unity, Catholicity, and Apostolicity, 
and enjoined on all men the solemn duty of becoming members 
of His Church. Now, those who know this divine command and 
still refuse, for no justifiable reason, to enter the Church, cannot 
be saved, because they flout what they know to be an express 
divine command. 

Those who doubt whether they should become members of 
Christ's Church, but refuse to investigate its claims, lest they 
be logically forced to belong to it, are evidently in bad faith, 
and cannot lay any claim to salvation. Of such speaks the Psal. 
xxxv. 4. 

400. But what about those people who, through no fault of 
their own, had no opportunity to learn that the Catholic Church 
is really a divine institution, to which all are commanded to be- 
long? If such persons are anxious to find out the truth and 
would be quite ready to enter the Church if only they knew 
their obligation to do so, observing meanwhile the injunctions of 
the natural moral law and persevering in such dispositions up to 
their death, the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas, the greatest of 
theologians, assures us that God will supply all that is needed for 
salvation in their behalf, even performing a miracle, if necessary, 
in order to bring them within the reach of Christ's redeeming 
and saving grace. 

From the strict, divinely imposed obligation of joining the 
Catholic Church, are we to conclude that every one who, through 
no fault of his own, is not visibly a member of the Catholic 
Church, is hopelessly reprobate? No, this cannot be, for the 
simple reason that no one can be lost except by his own fault. 
Hence, if a non-Catholic, through no personal fault, fails to 
recognize the claims of the Catholic Church ; if he quite honestly 
and conscientiously persuades himself that the Catholic Church, 
bristling with errors and superstitions, cannot be looked upon 
as the Church of Christ, then this ignorance may excuse him. 
Such a person, however, can claim no exemption from the ob- 

iTim. ii. 3, 4. 



282 How God Helps Man 

seryance of the moral law binding all men, a law and obligation 
which no one can ignore. 

401. The pontifical utterances of Pope Pius IX will be in 
place here. 

In his Allocution of December 9, 1854, he spoke thus: 

"We must hold as certain that ignorance of the true religion, 
when it is invincible, excuses from all fault in the eyes of the 
Lord. And who would now dare arrogate to himself the right 
of determining the limits of this ignorance, given the varieties 
of peoples, and countries, of minds and of so many other cir- 
cumstances ? ' ' 

Similar considerations were put forward by the same sov- 
ereign Pontiff in his Encyclical Letter of August 11, 1863 : 

"Every one knows that those who are afflicted by an invincible 
ignorance in regard to our holy religion, but faithfully observe 
the natural law, the precepts of which have been engraved by 
God on the hearts of all men, and who, being ready to obey God, 
actually lead a good and upright life, such individuals can, by 
the action of the divine light and the power of grace, attain to 
eternal life. God, in fact, who sees the inmost recesses and se- 
crets, the minds, the hearts, the thoughts and dispositions of 
all, will not, in His goodness and sovereign clemency, suffer any 
one to incur everlasting punishment who is not guilty of a vol- 
untary grievous fault." 

God's providence extends to all His rational creatures. He 
has given them the light of reason. He has written the pre- 
cepts of the natural law upon their hearts. He does not leave 
them unassisted by His grace; hence no one will be condemned 
for not knowing truths which he had no means of knowing. 

The teaching of the Catholic Church on the present question 
may be thus briefly stated : Outside the Church there is no sal- 
vation, that is, for those who, having known the claims of the 
Church and the obligation of associating themselves to it as 
members, neglected to enter it. Those, on the contrary, who 
are in good faith, and inculpably ignorant of its divine origin 
and institution, will receive, outside of it — that is, independently 
of the ordinary channels — the graces needed for their salva- 
tion. 

In short, no one is saved but by God 's grace, which is available 
for salvation so long as it is not wilfully rejected. No one is lost 
but by his own fault — that is, through resistance to and rejection 
of divine grace. 

Let us also bear in mind the following authoritative testi- 
monies concerning the Gentiles that lived before the Christian 
era. It is admitted that also among the gentile nations people 
were saved, but they were not saved without faith in the divine 
Mediator. Though they did not have an explicit faith in Him, 



To Secure His Supreme End 283 

yet they had an implicit faith in the Creator's providence, be- 
lieving that God was the deliverer of man according to the 
modes and means chosen by Him. 2 

"For Gentiles to be saved, it was enough that they should be- 
lieve that God was to be the Redeemer of mankind, and that He 
would deliver them from their miseries, though they ignored 
the details of that mystery. ' ' 3 

"A large number of people, before the coming of Christ, be- 
lieved in God and looked upon Him as their future Saviour, 
though they knew not when nor how their salvation was to be 
wrought, yet they had a faith sufficient for their salvation. ' ' 4 

The above quoted Doctors, in other parts of their works, do not 
fail to remark that, as the observance of the natural law was for 
the Gentiles the best guarantee of their salvation, so its violation 
in grievous matters offered the greatest hindrance to it. 

Is not our doctrine as stated above irreprehensible in the eyes of 
every fair-minded man? 

402. Hence, to say "Out of the true Church there is no salva- 
tion" is simply to assert what our Divine Saviour Himself pro- 
claimed in the clearest language: "He that believeth and is 
baptized shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be con- 
demned." 5 We Catholics are accused of being uncharitable for 
holding these principles of revealed faith. Is it uncharitable to 
say that no one can be saved without keeping God's command- 
ments? Is not this exactly what Our Saviour said when He 
answered that pertinent question, ' ' Good Master, what shall I do 
that I may have life everlasting?" Christ replied: "If thou 
wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. " 6 If we say that 
no one can be saved without baptism, our warrant rests on the 
Redeemer's words: "Unless a man be born again of water 
and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. ' ' 7 
For a like reason it is not uncharitable to say that no one can 
be saved without professing the true Faith, since St. Paul wrote 
long ago that ' ' Without faith it is impossible to please God. ' ' 8 

It is certainly not uncharitable to make people aware of the 
warnings of the Gospel and thereby help them to discard de- 
lusive human schemes of salvation producing a false security, 
which sooner or later will lead them to irrevocable misery, where 
regret and repentance come too late. 

403. As to members of Christian denominations separated from 
the Catholic religion, we freely admit that, under the conditions 
laid down above, they may actually be saved. This is quite true ; 

2 St. Thomas 2a, 2ae, qu. 2, art. vii. 

3 St. Bonaventure. In 111 Sent., Dist. 25. 

* St. Bernard, On Baptism 5 Mark xvi. 16. 

e Matt. xix. 16, 17. 7 John iii. 5. s Heb. 3d. 6. 



284 How God Helps Man 

but it is equally certain that they will be saved not by means of 
Protestantism, but in spite of it — in fact, in the very teeth of it. 
Protestantism as such has no saving power; hence, whoever is 
saved in that system, is saved not in so far as he is a Protestant, 
but in so far as he is a Catholic, though not knowing it. This 
assertion, though somewhat startling, is nevertheless perfectly 
true. In fact, a good conservative Protestant believes in God, 
in His justice and mercy; he believes in Christ as his Divine 
Master and Saviour, in the regenerating power of Baptism, in 
the efficacy of prayer for obtaining heavenly grace, and in the 
necessity of sorrow for sin. Where did he get these doctrines 
from ? From the Roman Catholic Church, whence the sixteenth- 
century Reformers carried them away when they rebelled against 
and seceded from it. They are all purely Catholic doctrines, 
and as such they may be the means of supernatural grace, and 
eternal salvation to those who yield to their influence. 

404. But the genuine and distinctive Protestant doctrines can 
save nobody. On the contrary, they can but hinder and impede 
salvation. But what are these genuine Protestant doctrines? 
They are the exclusively Protestant doctrines. For instance, 
the doctrines that Mass is a blasphemous superstition; that the 
successor of St. Peter, the Pope, is not the Head of the Church, 
but a usurper; that he has no prerogative of infallibility; that 
there are not seven sacraments, but only two ; that Christ is not 
substantially present in the Holy Eucharist; that there is no 
Purgatory ; that the invocation of the saints is contrary to Bible 
teaching; that the Scripture needs no divinely authorized in- 
terpreter. Now, these and similar doctrines are distinctly and 
genuinely Protestant tenets, incapable of saving any one, since 
they are utterly false and pernicious and, as such, cannot be 
employed by Almighty God as channels of grace and instruments 
of salvation. 

The good, honest, sincere, God-fearing Protestants, of whom 
no doubt, there are many, will attain eternal life, not on ac- 
count of their Protestantism, but only in virtue of the Catholic 
doctrines which were borrowed from the only true and infallible 
Church of God, whose center is at Rome, but whose circum- 
ference is the world. 

Let it then be understood that it is possible for a non-Catholic 
to be saved, but saved conditionally. And the conditions, con- 
formable to God's wisdom, goodness, and justice, and in perfect 
accordance with the present order of providence, are these: 

1. That one has no means whatever of knowing and recogniz- 
ing the true Church of Christ, in which case he is evidently ex- 
empt from the obligation of embracing it. It is a case of in- 
vincible ignorance. 

2. That one should not be conscientiously guilty of having of- 
fended his Creator in any serious, grievous matter. 



To Secure His Supreme End 285 

3. That if lie should be aware of such guilt, he should duly 
repent of it through motives prompted by his love of God, that 
is, through a repentance equivalent to what theologians call per- 
fect contrition. We have every reason to believe that the in- 
finite goodness of God, who wills all men to be saved, will grant 
such a grace in answer to the petitioner's earnest prayer, a 
means placed by Divine Providence within the reach of all. 

The reader is here reminded of the doctrine of St. Thomas, 
who expresses himself thus : ' ' Though the grace of conversion 
is not granted in view of personal merits, yet it is necessary that 
man should do what is in his power, and God 's unbounded liber- 
ality will grant it to every one that prepares himself for it, par- 
ticularly by removing the chief obstacle to its reception, sin." 
The holy Doctor confirms his teaching by the following perti- 
nent words of the Son of God in the Apocalypse: "Behold 
I stand at the gate, and knock. If any man shall hear My voice, 
and open to Me the door, I will come in to him. " 9 It is a prin- 
ciple of Catholic theology that "God does not refuse His grace 
to him that does what is in his power. ' ' 

405. Let us see, by way of contrast, the guarantees of truth, 
and the means of salvation, which Divine Providence furnishes 
to men within the pale of the Catholic Church. 

The exterior, perfect organization of the Church consists of 
the Pope, the visible representative of Christ, its invisible Head ; 
of the bishops in communion with the Holy See ; of the priests 
ordained by those bishops ; and of the community of the faithful 
united under the care of priests, their pastors. Ask the Catholic 
priest: "Who gave you the right to direct and govern me in 
what concerns the eternal salvation of my soul ? ' ' The priest will 
direct you to his bishop, by whose authority he exercises the 
sacred ministry. Ask the bishop : ' ' Who gave you this right 
and jurisdiction over the priests and faithful of your diocese?" 
And he, in his turn, will answer : "I hold this authority from 
the Pope. ' ' Ask the Pope, and he replies : "I possess the same 
power which my predecessors held." Pass up the long line 
of Supreme Pontiffs, and every one will give you the same 
answer, until you come to Peter. Ask him: "Whence hast 
thou this authority ? ' ' He will point to Christ and Christ Him- 
self will make answer : ' * All power is given to Me in heaven and 
in earth. " 10 It is Christ that said to Peter, His first vicar : 
"Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, 
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." n He, there- 
fore, who submits himself to the Church, submits to Christ, and 
he who submits to Christ, submits to God. "He that heareth 
you," said the Saviour to His Apostles and their successors, 
"heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and he 
that despiseth Me, despiseth Him that sent Me. ' ' 12 

9Apoc. iii. 20. loMatt. xxviii. 18. uMatt. xvi. 18. 12 Luke x. 16. 



286 How God Helps Man 

As to the means of salvation left by the Saviour of the world 
to the Church He founded, they have been pointed out in this 
Fifth Fart in the chapter on the Benefits of Grace. Here we 
shall briefly refer the reader to the forgiveness of sin in the sac- 
rament of Penance. The sentence of absolution which the 
priest pronounces upon earth is endorsed and ratified in heaven. 
God confirms his decision, or, to speak more properly, his de- 
cision is that of God Himself. This is indeed a most merciful 
power delivering us from sin, the only evil that can close the 
portals of heaven against us, and open under our feet the dread 
abyss of hell. After all, our great need, our only need, is the 
pardon of our sins. Where shall we look in this wide world 
for deliverance from that monster, the canker of sin? Not to 
ourselves, for we can fall, but possess no inherent power to rise. 
Not to earthly potentates, for they have no jurisdiction there. 
Where then shall we look for deliverance? Not to any angel, 
however mighty, nor to any saint, however holy; for sin is a 
bigger mountain than they have power to move. Nay, we can- 
not look for direct and immediate deliverance from that evil 
to the crowned Queen of Heaven, sinless Mary, for not even 
her holiness can atone for sin nor her spotless purity blot out 
its deadly stain. Forgiveness does come to us only from the 
precious blood of Jesus Christ, and it is through the priests that 
His merits are actually applied to cleanse and beautify repent- 
ant souls. All this we learn from St. Peter's words: "Neither 
is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name un- 
der heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved." 13 

(For a considerable portion of this chapter we are indebted 
to the pamphlet "Is there Salvation Outside the Church?" by 
Right Rev. Msgr. John Vaughan.) 

CHAPTEE X 

I 

CALVIN'S HIDEOUS TEACHINGS ON PREDESTINATION 

AS CONTRASTED WITH THE CATHOLIC DOCTRINE 

ON THE SAME SUBJECT 

It is greatly to be lamented that not a few honest investigators 
gather their knowledge of the Christian religion from the 
poisonous system of Calvin and his disciples, instead of deriv- 
ing it from the pure, unsullied fountain of Catholic faith. This 
highly regrettable fact explains their attitude of hostility toward 
the Church, whom they hold responsible for the very views of 
man's damnation which she condemned as heretical as soon as 
they appeared. 

13 Acts iv. 12. 



To Secure His Supreme End 287 

406. According to Calvin's creed, which followed from his per- 
verse distortion of the doctrine of original sin, this is the mean- 
ing of predestination : ' ' We behold the mercy of God in the gra- 
tuitous salvation of the elect, independently of any worthiness 
on their part; and we see God's justice in the preordained dam- 
nation of the reprobates, who are excluded from all access to 
eternal life. Things are so disposed by an eternal and immutable 
decree of the Lord. ' ' This was the ghastly caricature of everlast- 
ing punishment which Mr. Mill, senior, learned from the Scotch 
Presbyterian school, and which, after causing him to reject 
Christianity, drove him into atheism. It is this distorted Calvin- 
istic theory of predestination representing the great multitude 
of mankind as condemned to perdition, not by their own fault, 
but by the sovereign will of the Creator, that the Catholic Church 
condemned as a deadly heresy. To mention one of the debasing 
and brutalizing effects of this abominable doctrine, it is said that 
Lord Byron, believing himself a reprobate, used all diligence to 
make his calling and election to perdition sure ; a frightful state 
of mind, based not on the Catholic dogma of eternal punish- 
ment but on the execrable creed of Calvinistic reprobation. 

Either through malice or unpardonable ignorance, writers 
hostile to the Catholic Church represent this horrible Calvin- 
istic doctrine as the genuine official teachings of Eome. 

407. We here briefly explain the doctrine of the Catholic 
Church on this important point. 

On account of His antecedent or first will, as theologians tell 
us, God wills some particular thing, fact, or event independently 
of circumstances relative to such thing, fact, or event. Thus, He 
wills that all men be saved. 1 By His consequent or second will 
God wishes some facts or events depending on some circum- 
stances or conditions, as when it is His will that rational crea- 
tures who offend Him grievously and persevere till death in im- 
penitence should be punished eternally. 2 Even in regard to 
these, God's first or antecedent will is that they should be saved; 
it is only the circumstance or fact of their persevering malice 
that frustrates the first will and causes the second or consequent 
will to have its course. 

408. In other words, it is God's will that all men be saved by 
means of and on condition of their free co-operation with His 
grace, whenever such a co-operation is possible. The loss of 
souls, then, occurs when such condition is not fulfilled, which 
can happen only through the free, deliberate abuse of one 's free 
will. God, to whose infinite mind all things, past, present, and 
to come, are perfectly known, simply foresees that rebellious, ob- 
stinate sinners will not attain the end for which He destined 
them ; a knowledge which in no way interferes with the freedom 
and responsibility of men; for their voluntary actions are not 

iTim* ii. 4. 2 Matt. xxxv. 41. 



288 How God Helps Man 

performed because God foresees them, but He foresees them 
because they will be freely performed. What, then, is meant 
by the dogma of eternal damnation? It means, in one word, 
leaving the sinner to himself. It is no arbitrary infliction of a 
vengeful Deity, as scoffers are fond of phrasing it ; it is simply 
that God has at length withdrawn from His rebellious creature 
the care and generous aid he had pertinaciously despised and 
finally rejected. The blessing comes from God, the curse from 
the sinner himself. ' k Destruction is thy own, O Israel ; thy help 
is only in Me. ' ' 3 Man was created an immortal, responsible be- 
ing, placed in a state of probation, and endowed with excellent 
gifts both of nature and of grace; and, as on the right use of 
those gifts depends the favor of his Maker, so on their wrong 
use or abuse follows the fulfilment of his Master 's threat. Hence 
there is no injustice in the withdrawal of God's friendship from 
those who deliberately abuse the graces and opportunities they 
have received: and when this abuse is carried on even to the 
bitter end, the close of one 's earthly life, the period of his proba- 
tion, and thus becomes final and complete, the isolation from 
God and from all good must also be final and complete. The 
impenitent sinner has missed the final end of his creation 
through his own free, deliberate choice. The real question, then, 
is not whether the salvation of all men is the will of God, as un- 
doubtedly it is, but whether He wills to force salvation on un- 
willing recipients; a view directly contradicted by Holy Scrip- 
ture and opposed to the most obvious dictates of human reason. 
In damnation the fiat of eternal perdition issues from the will 
not of the Creator but of the creature, who has preferred dark- 
ness to light and has deliberately rejected the love that wooed, 
but failed to win him. 

The Catholic doctrine is summed up by theologians in the 
two following propositions : 

PROPOSITION I 

The formal election or predestination of adults to eternal 
glory is decreed by God only in consequence of their foreseen fu- 
ture merits. 

PROPOSITION II 

Positive, antecedent reprobation is repugnant to Catholic faith. 
Hence the damnation of the reprobates is decreed exclusively in 
view of their foreseen demerits and final impenitence. 4 

s Osee xiii. 9. 4 Schiffini, Thesis xix. et xx. 



To Secure His Supreme End 289 

II 

ON THE FUTURE STATE OR CONDITION OF CHILDREN 
WHO DIE WITHOUT RECEIVING HOLY BAPTISM 

409. Among the charges made by unbelievers against God's 
providence is that derived from the future state of children who 
die unbaptized. Basing their assertion on Calvin's creed, ac- 
cording to which God has absolutely doomed a portion of man- 
kind with their unbaptized infant children to everlasting dam- 
nation, they accuse Divine Providence of cruelty and injustice. 
Though what we said in a preceding article on Calvin's horrible 
creed, branded by the Catholic Church as blasphemous and 
heretical, is amply sufficient to refute modern unbelievers re- 
garding the point at issue, yet we deem it advisable to treat this 
question at some length in special chapters. This will afford 
us the opportunity of clearly stating the doctrine of the Church 
on the future state of children dying without spiritual regenera- 
tion through Baptism, and of vindicating, at the same time, the 
justice of God's providence in this respect. 

CHAPTER XI 

WHAT IS THE PENALTY OF ORIGINAL SIN IN 
THE FUTURE WORLD? 

410. It is a doctrine of revealed truth that children depart- 
ing from this world without Baptism, who therefore retain on 
their soul the stain of original sin, are excluded from the super- 
natural beatitude which, as shown in Part IV, consists essen- 
tially in the beatific vision. This dogmatic truth rests on the 
explicit words of Jesus Christ Himself, registered in St. John's 
Gospel. Answering Nicodemus, He said: "Amen, Amen, I say 
to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, 
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." 1 

Theologians distinguish a twofold necessity, which they call 
a necessity of means (medii) ; and a necessity of command or of 
precept (prcecepti). The former indicates a thing to be so neces- 
sary that if it is wanting (though inculpably) salvation cannot 
be attained. The latter occurs when a thing is indeed so neces- 
sary that, because commanded, it may not be omitted volun- 
tarily without sin; yet ignorance of the precept or inability to 
fulfil it excuses one from its observance. Baptism is held to 
be necessary both by the necessity of means, and by the necessity 
of command. 

Christ, when enjoining Baptism, makes no exception to this 

i John iii, 5. 



290 How God Helps Man 

law, which is therefore general in its application, comprising 
both adults and infants. This is the sense in which it has always 
been understood by the Church; and the Council of Trent 2 
teaches that justification cannot be obtained, since the promulga- 
tion of the Gospel, without the laver of regeneration, or the de- 
sire thereof (in voto) when possible. 

That the application of such a divine ordinance to some crea- 
tures involves no injustice whatever will be proved in a subse- 
quent chapter. 

As the documents to be alleged will clearly show, in the mind 
of the Church, the only penalty incurred by the infants we speak 
of is that which is due to human creatures not freed from 
original sin; namely, the exclusion from the beatific vision in 
God's heavenly kingdom. If further inquiries are made regard- 
ing their condition before and after the general resurrection, 
we find that no explicit dogmatic decrees have as yet been issued 
by the Catholic Church on those points. 

Hence Catholic writers are at liberty to discuss various ques- 
tions concerning the future state of unbaptized children so long 
as they advance no views conflicting with other explicitly defined 
doctrines of revelation. The main question is to inquire whether 
they are enduring any sensitive or physical pain at all, how- 
ever slight. 

We here affirm that we hold the negative view, as expressed 
in the following proposition : 

4 4 The only penalty due to original sin in the next life is the pri- 
vation of the supernatural beatitude, the vision of God, with the 
complete exclusion of sensitive physical pain, particularly of 
hell's fire." 

411. This contention is fully supported by Pontifical au- 
thority, the majority of the Greek and the Latin Fathers, and the 
almost unanimous consent of theologians. 

Innocent III, in determining the essential difference between 
original and actual or personal sin, speaks as follows: 

"Original sin is that which is contracted without any con- 
sent ; actual sin is that which is contracted with consent. Hence 
the punishment of original sin, if not effaced, is the privation 
of the beatific vision, the pain of loss without the penalty of fire. 
The punishment of actual sin, if not cancelled by repentance, is 
the torment of eternal hell. 3 

The same doctrine is taught by Pius VI in his constitution 
Auctorem Fidei, dated August 28, a. d. 1794, condemning the 
schismatical and heretical Synod of Pistoia, and asserting the 
complete exemption of unbaptized infants from the penalty of 
fire. 4 Father Palmieri, S. J., in his treatise, De Deo Creante, 
page 649, draws from the above Pontifical document the following 
conclusions : 

2 Sess. vii, c. v. 3 J). Enchiridion, pp. 188, 404, * P. Enchiridion, p. 404. 



To Secure Bis Supreme End 291 

1. The doctrine holding that deceased unbaptized children 
suffer only the pain of loss, and are therefore free from the 
pain of sense, is conformable to Catholic teachings. 

2. Such a doctrine is publicly sanctioned by the present de- 
cree of the Apostolic See. 

3. The same doctrine may be safely held, notwithstanding the 
contrary opinion of some Latin Fathers alleged by the advo- 
cates of the opposite view. 5 

The Greek Fathers, among whom the two Gregories, the Nazi- 
anzen and the Nyssan, state in their writings that in the apos- 
tolic tradition there is no mention of positive sufferings to be 
undergone by those, who have not been guilty of any personal 
sin. 6 

The holy doctor St. Ambrose, one of the most learned Latin 
Fathers, writes as follows: "No one ascends into the kingdom 
of heaven except by means of the sacrament of Baptism; this 
we learn from Christ Himself. 7 To this law there is no excep- 
tion. The unbaptized infants, however, enjoy immunity from 
pain. ' ' 8 

Another of the Latin Fathers, St, Bernard, thus speaks: 
' ' What does God hate and punish but the abuse of the free will ? 
Should there be no such abuse in the present life, there would 
be no hell 7 s punishment in the next. ' ' 

412. On the status or condition of unbaptized children Pope 
Innocent III decreed as follows : ' ' The punishment of original 
sin is the privation of the vision of God ; the penalty of actual sin 
is hell 's eternal torment. ' ' 9 

The sensitive pain results from the privation of natural good 
and is incurred on account of the creature's turning to earthly 
goods, which is done by the commission of actual, personal sin. 
There can be no sadness in the unbaptized infants, for right 
reason does not demand that one should suffer for what it was 
not in his power to avoid. Neither are they subject to any pain 
or affliction, for this is due only on account of a guilty gratifica- 
tion, which had no place in the original sin which they incurred. 
They know, in a general way, that they were created for happi- 
ness, and that happiness consists in the attainment of perfect 
good ; but they do not know in particular that man was destined 
for the beatific vision, for this knowledge is the gift of faith, 
which they did not receive, as they were deprived of the grace of 
Baptism. Hence the loss of that destiny can cause in them 
neither sadness nor regret. "Ignoti nulla cupido." — ''There 
can be no desire of a good unknown. ' ' 10 

s See also page 665 of Palmieri's cited treatise where he refutes the 
contrary opinion of Cardinal Noris. 

6 See Palmieri, quoted above, and also Suarez, vol. xix. p. 935 — Edition 
Vives. Paris 7 John iii. 5. 

s Serm. de Abraham. a L III Deer., tit. 42, c. 3. io St. Thomas, De Malo 



292 How God Helps Man 

If we consider the loss of the beatific vision as the good of 
which one is deprived on account of sin, the evil of guilt, it is 
indeed a most grievous penalty, deservedly called by St. Augus- 
tine and St. John Chrysostom the greatest that angels or men 
could incur. But if we look upon it as a supernatural good to 
which no creature can lay claim, then its loss may be regarded as 
a very light penalty, like that of some individual who should be 
prevented from acquiring possession of a kingdom to which he 
has no inherent right whatever. It is this sense that St. Augus- 
tine qualifies the privation of the beatific vision in unbaptized 
children as a "mitissima poena," "a very light penalty." Such 
is the opinion of some theologians under the leadership of St. 
Thomas. 

As we learn from Catholic theology, original sin is not caused 
by the will of those who contract it, but by the will of him 
(Adam) who committed it. Hence sensitive punishment is due 
only to actual, personal sin. 

Cardinal Sfrondati n declares that, while unchristened in- 
fants are certainly excluded from heaven, yet they are not de- 
prived of natural happiness. Since the twelfth century the 
opinion of the majority of theologians has been that unbaptized 
children are exempt from all pain of sense. This was taught 
by St. Thomas Aquinas, Scotus, Peter Lombard, St. Bonaven- 
ture, and others, and is now the common teaching of the schools 
with the very few exceptions referred to below. 

The Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas, in his Quest. Disput. De 
Malo 12 and in other parts of his writings, asserts the same doe- 
trine and alleges the following reasons: "As the pain of sense 
is a punishment intended to chastise the sinful personal act, by 
which sinners turn to created goods ; so to original sin there cor- 
responds only one penalty, that of loss. But in personal, wilful 
transgressions we find both aversion from God and turning to 
creatures ; hence the reason of the twofold punishment — that of 
loss, and that of sense. ' ' 

The same holy Doctor calls this the common doctrine held by 
theologians with very few exceptions. It is the doctrine prac- 
tically professed by the Church, as she never countenanced the 
opposite teaching, though she has not as yet issued any dogmatic 
definition on the subject. 

Suarez writes: "Unbaptized children, as all theologians 
teach, will not suffer sensible pains." 13 

413. What is defined in the second General Council of Lyons 
(a. d. 1274) and repeated in that of Florence (a. d. 1439); 
namely, that unbaptized children are to be punished with pains 
(disparibus) different from those to be endured by adults who 
die in mortal sin, does not mean that their pains will be lighter 

ii In Nodo Praedestinationis I. 12 Qu. v, art. 2. 

13 Vol. xix. p. 935. Edit. Vives. 



To Secure His Supreme End 293 

than those of the reprobates. That expression was intended to 
point out the specific difference between the lots assigned to 
those two classes of human creatures; and the difference con- 
sists in this, that unbaptized infants will only suffer the pain 
of loss. 

Hence we cannot subscribe to the opinion of Cardinal Noris, 
an Augustinian, who goes so far as to assert that his view, which 
is opposed to our thesis, is confirmed by the unanimous consent 
of the Supreme Pontiffs, the General Councils, and the Fathers. 
What we stated above shows that the assertion of Cardinal Noris 
is utterly destitute of foundation. Hence we feel fully justi- 
fied in holding the doctrine which is found to be conformable 
to the tradition of the Church, the sentiments of the Holy 
Fathers, and the opinion of the great majority of Catholic 
theologians, as noted above. 

414. As we previously remarked, the pains of sense are not the 
punishment of original sin, but of actual, personal sin. This is 
so true that, as theologians have observed, whenever our Blessed 
Saviour speaks of sensible sufferings to be inflicted on the guilty, 
He invariably refers to actual, personal sins as their cause. 
Thus He takes occasion of the sin of scandal to threaten eternal 
fire to those who commit it. And in the description of the Last 
Judgment, as the Evangelist St. Matthew relates, Christ gives 
as a reason of the sentence, "Depart from Me, ye cursed, into 
everlasting fire," the omission and neglect, on the part of sinners, 
of the works of mercy, though other even more grievous sins are 
not excluded as deserving said penalty. Now it is evident that 
unbaptized infants dying before the use of reason cannot be 
guilty of any sins, either of omission or of commission. Hence 
no pain of sense is to be endured by them either now or after the 
last judgment. 

415. As to the fact that some few of the Fathers, Church 
writers, and theologians may be found inclining to the rigid 
view in the matter at issue, we remark that their private opinion, 
when opposed to the sentiments of the majority, cannot be held 
as a sufficient authority to establish a given proposition as a 
dogma of faith. Between the doctrine of an individual and the 
official teaching of the Church, based on the common consent of 
the Fathers, there is the same difference as between the doctrine 
of man and the teaching of God. 

In this connection it is important to recall the teaching of St. 
Vincent of Lerins in his Commonitorium, n. 28, which is sub- 
stantially as follows : 

"We should with great diligence investigate and follow the 
doctrine of the majority of the ancient holy Fathers, and hold it 
as the rule of faith. I mean such Fathers as lived, taught, and 
persevered in the Catholic communion and were conspicuous by 



294 How God Helps Man 

their sanctity, learning, and constancy; who either died piously 
in Christ, or deserved to be martyred for Christ. 

"If, however, some one of the Fathers, though holy and 
learned, be he a confessor or a martyr, should teach something 
opposed to the common consent of all the others, that should be 
reckoned as his own personal and private opinion, contrary to the 
prevailing public sentiment and belief; for we niust not aban- 
don the ancient truth of a dogma universally accepted in order 
to follow the novel error of a single man, as heretics and schis- 
matics are wont to do. ' ' 14 

See Melchior Canus in his classical work De Locis Theolo- 
gicis, where he speaks of the argumentative value of the indi- 
vidual opinions of Fathers and theologians compared to the ma- 
jority of writers opposed to them. 

We must now lay down some principles of Catholic doctrine 
available for the solution of certain objections raised against 
God's providence in His dealings with children dying unbap- 
tized. And this will be the subject of the following chapter. 



CHAPTER XII 

NO HUMAN CREATURE MAY LAY ANY CLAIM TO 
DESTINATION TO THE SUPERNATURAL STATE 

416. We freely confess that, at first sight, it appears very 
hard to think that children incapable of committing sin should 
be excluded from the enjoyment of the beatific vision, because 
their original sin was not blotted out by the regenerating waters 
of Baptism. ^ Entering, however, more deeply into this question, 
we discover in all this matter neither injustice nor harshness, 
but solely the result of an order of things established by God, 
and of which no one has a right to complain. Eternal felicity, 
which, according to Catholic faith, consists principally in the in- 
tuitive vision of God, is not natural to man or to any other ra- 
tional creature ; that is, no one can lay claim to it as a destiny 
due to his nature, and much less to any of his meritorious deeds. 

It is a supernatural state above and beyond the claims of all 
creatures, and at which no one can arrive but through super- 
natural aids, for the means must be proportioned to the end to 
be attained. In the Christian dispensation, under the law of 
grace, such supernatural means is Baptism, appointed by the 
world's Redeemer, to whom belonged the right to determine the 
way and manner by which His merits were to be applied to 
men for the attainment of their supernatural destiny or end. 
It is plain, then, that God, without being harsh or unjust, might 

I* See Enchiridion Patristicum, p. 768. 



To Secure His Supreme End 295 

not have raised any of His creatures, angels or men, to the su- 
pernatural state, the beatific vision; but He could have estab- 
lished rewards of a purely natural order, either for this life 
or the next. Hence it follows that the privation of the beatific 
vision in a certain number of creatures does not argue injustice 
or harshness in God's decrees. As the beatific vision is a purely 
gratuitous gift, no one is wronged because he does not receive 
it. Neither are some creatures wronged because others receive 
it, for no one has a right to the beatific vision, and where no 
right is infringed, no wrong is done. As we shall soon see at 
greater length, such infants shall be united to God by the par- 
ticipation of natural gifts, and thus rejoice in Him by their 
natural knowledge and love of their Creator. Their condition 
then may be compared to that of any intelligent, rational crea- 
ture, that might have been destined only to a natural end. 
Father Lessius, in his work, Be Summo Bono, sums up this 
highly reasonable doctrine of St. Thomas and other Catholic 
writers on this question in the following terms : 

"If Divine Providence will so deal with the unbaptized chil- 
dren that they will feel no sadness for the loss of the heavenly 
kingdom, because they will know that, without any fault of 
theirs, they were simply not fitted for it, why may we not sup- 
pose that, in their state, they may, through their natural gifts, be 
moved to love and praise God for all eternity? In fact, what 
else could they do, all other occupations having ceased ? " 1 

Such infants, therefore, not having been raised to the state of 
supernatural grace through Baptism, and dying before the use 
of reason in original sin, have no elicit appetite for the life of 
supernatural glory. This is, of course, a great loss when com- 
pared to the future state of the glorified. But it does not imply 
any suffering whatever, either of soul or body. As St. Bernard 
writes: "Nothing burns in hell except one's rebellious will." 
Hence, this condition is consistent with the enjoyment of natural 
beatitude, and with a natural knowledge and love of God. St. 
Thomas says of them : ' ' They are united with God by the par- 
ticipation of natural gifts; hence they will rejoice in Him 
through their natural knowledge and love." 2 

417. Catholic writers hold that this principle may be extended 
to the case of adults, especially in heathen nations, who die with 
their moral and intellectual faculties so imperfectly developed 
that, as far as 'responsibility is concerned, they may be regarded 
as children. Hence we cannot but condemn in the strongest lan- 
guage the cruel doctrine of Calvin, who speaks "of the fiery tor- 
ments of unchristened infants because such is the inscrutable 
decree of God 's will. " 3 

i Lib. i, c. 9. 2 in 2 Sent., Dist. 33, q. 2. 3 Inst. Lib. iii, c. 23, sect. 7. 



296 How God Helps Man 



CHAPTER XIII 

CONDITION OF UNBAPTIZED INFANTS AFTER THE 
FINAL RESURRECTION 

418. Here it may be pertinently asked: Shall, then, those 
infants enjoy some kind of natural happiness ? 

We answer affirmatively, for the following reasons: 

In the first place, the unbaptized children in question, though 
infected with the stain of original sin, are not deprived of their 
natural gifts; hence they retain both a capacity and a disposi- 
tion to the enjoyment of what we may rightly call a natural 
happiness and contentment, and nothing can be urged as an 
obstacle against it from Christian tradition. Secondly, if we 
adopt the opinion of St. Thomas that these infants will experi- 
ence no sadness whatever, it will be easier to maintain that they 
are certainly capable of possessing some kind of natural felicity. 
Thirdly, such an opinion is held and defended by the majority 
of the Fathers, and the all but unanimous consent of Catholic 
theologians under the leadership of the Angelic Doctor, St. 
Thomas Aquinas. 

We may now relate here some views and conjectures of the 
theologians regarding the condition of unbaptized infants after 
the general resurrection and the probable place of their abode 
after the last judgment. 

As the Catholic Church has, thus far, issued no dogmatic 
definition on the points mentioned above and similar other 
inquiries, a certain liberty of discussion is allowed to investi- 
gators, and to the expression of their views, so long as they do not 
conflict with revealed truth and the traditional teachings of the 
Church. 

419. As has been shown above, Catholic theologians with 
scarcely any exception hold that unbaptized children, being free 
from all actual, personal sins, will not be condemned to hell's 
fire or to any other sensitive pain, and will, moreover, be free 
from sadness, grief, and all other sufferings. 1 But what will be 
their condition and mode of existence after the Last Judgment ? 
The eminent theologian, Fr. Francis Suarez of the Society of 
Jesus, in his commentary on the Summa of St. Thomas and on 
other works of the same holy Doctor, expresses the following 
views, which we fully endorse and submit to our readers: 
They also will partake of the gift of the final resurrection 
through the merits of Christ, and come under the general law 
laid down by St. Paul: As in Adam all die, so also in Christ 
all shall be made alive. 2 Christ will be the exemplar or pat- 
tern of their resurrection as to their natural endowments and 

i See St Thomas, De Malo, q. v, art. 2, 3. 21 Cor xv. 22. 



To Secure His Supreme End 297 

perfections; a fact which fully accounts for the remarkable 
qualities of their risen bodies. They will consequently rise 
with a body naturally perfect as to its size, stature, form, 
strength, vigor, and general health; though, of course, destitute 
of such supernatural qualities as are exclusively proper to the 
glorified bodies of the elect. According to St. Paul's teachings, 3 
they will rise of the age of Christ in ripe manhood, and thus 
attain their natural perfection, which is then at its best; and 
will therefore be able to exercise their mental faculties, memory, 
intellect, and will, without any hindrance from bodily imper- 
fections, which are done away with. 

Their bodies will be immortal, and therefore incorruptible, 
not intrinsically, as the glorious bodies of the just, but through 
an extrinsic special providence, which will remove the present 
causes of sickness, injuries, and death. 

They will no longer feel the need of nourishment, which is 
intended to supply the waste of the body, for a flesh that has 
put on incorruption will no longer suffer any waste. Hence 
their vital vigor and strength will remain undiminished and un- 
impaired. 

Though their mode of locomotion will be as at present, yet 
their bodily organism will be entirely subject to the will and the 
empire of the soul, and suffer no fatigue. 

420. Here it may be asked: How can natural beatitude, as- 
signed to unbaptized infants, be reconciled with the doctrine of 
the Church excluding them from the happiness and bliss of the 
beatific vision? 

We answer that these two things must be carefully distin- 
guished. It is one thing for an individual to attain that in 
which perfect beatitude consists and quite another thing for him 
to possess that which in itself, though neither perfect nor super- 
natural, yet makes him simply blessed, happy, and contented. 

If, then, we bear in mind the distinction between the super- 
natural destiny attained by the elect and the natural happiness 
attributed to the unbaptized, all difficulties will disappear and 
the dogmatic teaching of the Catholic Church regarding those 
two classes of human creatures will be perfectly harmonized. 

The sensitive faculties being entirely controlled by the 
spiritual, the risen creatures we speak of will experience no re- 
bellion of the flesh against the spirit, and on that account will 
also be impeccable; for the period of probation, implying the 
possibility of sin, is limited to the present duration of human 
life. We may also apply to them what Christ said of the elect. 
"In the resurrection they shall neither marry, nor be married, 
but shall be as the angels of God in heaven. ' ' 4 

To the question whether the unbaptized infants will appear 
at the last judgment, St. Thomas answers affirmatively and says 

3Eph iv. 13. 4 Matt. xxii. 30. 



298 How God Helps Man 

that they will be present in order to see the glory of Jesus Christ, 
the Supreme Judge ; and they will then understand that all the 
gifts they possess, even in the natural order, are due to His 
merits. They will, moreover, be fully convinced that their con- 
dition is perfectly conformable to right and justice. They will 
recognize and confess Christ 's divinity, not owing to divine faith 
or supernatural revelation, but as displayed and manifested by 
His power and omnipotence in the general resurrection ; and by 
His omniscience of the conscience of all men, on whom He will 
pronounce the final sentence either of salvation or of damna- 
tion. Hence, knowing that they are indebted to Christ for the 
gifts of their natural state, they will, no doubt, be moved to 
tender to Him acts of gratitude and love. 

What about the place of their abode? Where shall it be? 
Learned theologians, saj^s Suarez, piously think that our own 
earth, renewed and embellished, after the destructive fire of the 
last day, will constitute their permanent dwelling-place. 5 

In conclusion, we may say that though the unbaptized children 
may not be called blessed, and are truly said to be in a state of 
reprobation, yet they will be fully contented with their natural 
happiness, and enjoy a felicity far superior to anything man 
may now possess on earth. These conditions will doubtless con- 
sole the parents who were bereaved of children that died without 
Baptism. But on the other hand, reflecting on the doctrine of 
the Catholic Church regarding the immense happiness held out 
to the baptized, parents will realize their imperative duty of 
securing to their offspring the paramount blessing of Holy Bap- 
tism. 

As to converts to our faith, they will, no doubt, admire the 
wisdom of the Catholic Church in securing to them the validity 
of that sacrament through the provision of conditional Baptism 
whenever there is sufficient ground to fear that their former 
Baptism may not have been validly administered, particularly 
for want of right intention on the part of the minister conferring 
the rite. 

421. As Fr. Thurston, S.J., wisely remarks (The Month, Feb., 
1917), we have no warrant for supposing that the natural 
paradise which is assigned by theologians as the final destiny of 
unbaptized infants, should be exclusively confined to those who 
were taken out of this world in their childhood. Obviously the 
position of the weak-minded and mentally defective, who have 
never been fully responsible for their actions, even if adult, is 
precisely identical with that of the infants. As to other adults 
of barbarous countries, who may have had a very imperfect 
knowledge of the natural law, the same writer says : ' ' There is 
no dogmatic pronouncement of authority, no word of Scripture, 
no teaching of the Fathers, which, in my judgment, speaks so 

s See Is. lxv. 17; lxvi. 22; Apoc. xxi. 1; 2 Peter iii. 13. 



To Secure His Supreme End 299 

plainly as to exclude the possibility that those unbaptized adults, 
who, on the one hand, have not not risen to the height of the bap- 
tism of desire, and, on the other hand, have not grossly outraged 
the unwritten law of conscience, may share the natural happiness 
or paradise of unbaptized infants." 

The same author, referring to the general possibility of salva- 
tion within the reach of those who have never heard of the Gos- 
pel of Christ, writes : ' ' We also know that the savage, however 
barbarous, who responds to that dim knowledge of God which 
he derives from the spectacle of God's creation, and who elicits 
in his heart an act of true love for the Creator, is thereby justi- 
fied and vested in the robe of supernatural grace as efficaciously 
as if it had been conferred by the waters of Baptism, though 
they may have to make expiation for the heedlessness with which 
they have broken the law but imperfectly known to them. ' ' 

422. In the course of my investigations relative to the present 
subject I came across an item of information both interesting 
and instructive. Among the schemata or program prepared by 
the Commission de Fide for discussion at the Vatican Council in 
the year 1870, the following was recorded: "Future State of 
Children that die unbaptized. Proposition: The only punish- 
ment assigned to original sin is the loss or privation of the 
beatific vision." Then follows the prepared definition, Canon 
V : ' * They that die stained only with original sin, shall be for- 
ever deprived of the beatific vision; but those that die contami- 
nated with grievous personal sins, shall moreover be condemned 
to the torments of hell. ' ' 

ADDITIONAL REFERENCES 

St. Thomas, Disput. de Malo, q. 5, art. 2, 3 ; et in 2 Sentent. 
Dist. 33, q. 2, art. 5. 

Cardinal Mazzella, S. J., De Deo Creante, n. 1049. 
D. Palmieri, S. J., De Deo Creante, Thesis 81. 
Jungmann, De Novissimis. 
Oxenham, Catholic Eschatology, p. 17. 
The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. ii. p. 266. 
Bolgeni, Dei Bambini Morti Senza Battesimo. 
Suarez, Opera, vol. xix. p. 935. Edition Vives. 



PART VI 
THE PUNITIVE SANCTION 

CHAPTER I 

HOW ARE DIVINELY REVEALED TRUTHS 
DEMONSTRATED ? 

423. As we noted on several occasions, the dogma of future 
retribution, like every other article of faith, can be apodictically 
demonstrated only by the testimony of authority derived from 
Holy Scripture, the Jewish and Christian traditions, and the dog- 
matic definition of the Catholic Church. It is not intended by 
this statement to exclude entirely all arguments from reason, for 
they are rightly adduced by apologists as confirmatory of re- 
vealed truth. They furnish what may be called an indirect 
proof, inasmuch as they show that reason, when properly con- 
sulted, can raise no valid argument against the teachings of di- 
vine revelation. 

Owing, then, to the fact that the proof of an endless future 
life, either of happiness or of woe, rests on the testimony of 
authority, before we enter into our argumentation, it is abso- 
lutely necessary to dispose of a sophism by which the so-called 
scientific rationalists of our times strive to refute our thesis as 
utterly incapable of sound, logical demonstration. They will 
say, "We refuse to acknowledge the truths of Christian faith 
because the evidence alleged in their support is insufficient, and 
therefore incapable of bringing conviction to any prudent, prac- 
tical man. This," they say, "is our justification for refusing 
assent to your Christian Creed. We trust the discoveries of 
science; true, but this is quite another thing. Science offers 
clear, visible, palpable demonstrations, which are not forthcom- 
ing in the case of your dogmas. We contend, ' ' they add, ' ' that 
the only objects with which the human mind is capable of deal- 
ing, are those that are naturally intelligible, that is, accessible 
to experience. The invisible is not our domain. Hence all 
arguments incapable of being submitted to the experimental 
test, with which science proves its phenomena and laws, are alto- 
gether insufficient and as such cannot commend themselves to 
any intelligent, fair-minded, impartial being." 

Here is our answer: Our adversaries, by asserting that no 

301 



302 Hell, the Punitive Sanction 

truth can be admitted which has no ocular or experimental proof 
to support it, take for granted that no evidence is of any value 
which is not intrinsic and capable of experimental demonstra- 
tion. As all logicians avow, this assertion is absolutely false, 
and, if once admitted, it cannot but lead to endless absurdities. 
We may reach truth by two perfectly distinct methods, namely, 
by actual experimental investigation, when the matter in ques- 
tion is capable of it, or by the testimony of external authority. 
The second method, of course, is essentially different from the 
first, though it is not on that account less reliable. The world 
of spirits, and the world of matter are entirely distinct; there- 
fore the method suitable to material things will be found quite 
unsuitable to things spiritual. Thus the telescope will reveal 
the secrets of the heavens, but it will not help us to reveal the 
secrets of the heart. The microscope will lay bare the inner- 
most structure and texture of plants, but it can throw no light 
on the mysteries of psychology, because of the essential dis- 
tinction between the material and the spiritual. Physical in- 
struments and experiments can deal with the former, but all their 
attempts will be baffled in trying to unveil the mysteries of the 
latter. 

424. Hence the principle of authority, admitted by all sound 
philosophers, is a perfectly reliable criterion of truth. 

This is so true that for our knowledge of history, literature, 
biograplry, geography, and of many data of natural sciences, 
such as physics, chemistry, geology, astronomy, etc., we rely 
entirely upon authority. To exclude all the truths which we are 
unable to verify by experiments or ocular demonstration, would 
be to rob us of ninety-nine hundredths of all the knowledge we 
can possess. We are safe from such consequences, because men 
are more logical than they profess to be ; and because even those 
who are loudest in denouncing the truths of faith, which can- 
not be experimentally proved, are compelled to stultify their 
own teaching and to eat their own words by being forced to ex- 
ercise faith at every turn. 

Our only need in evidence of this kind is to satisfy ourselves 
that the special authority to which we appeal on any given mat- 
ter is reliable, and therefore trustworthy. When this is once 
shown, the truth proposed can be held to be as certain as any 
truth demonstrated by direct evidence, personal experience or 
by experimental tests. That such a reliable authority exists in 
support of the truths of the Gospel will soon be proved. In 
accordance with the principles laid down above, it is plain that 
religious truths, the dogmas of faith, do not admit of being 
proved by any argument except that of authority; and the 
same must be said of any historical fact. Thus it is intrinsically 
impossible to prove by mechanical, experimental processes, or 
by personal observation the power of sacramental absolution, 



As Divinely Revealed 303 

the spiritual effects of Baptism, the real presence of Christ in 
the Holy Eucharist, and the real character of eternal retribu- 
tion. 

425. In fact, no revealed supernatural doctrine is capable of 
being verified by any natural means whatsoever placed within 
our reach. It must then be evident to the meanest capacity that 
if truths of the supernatural order are to be known at all, this 
can be done only on grounds wholly different from those re- 
sorted to for our knowledge of purely natural objects. This 
being the fact, it is evidently unreasonable to require as a neces- 
sary condition of our belief and acceptance that supernatural 
doctrines should be demonstrated in the same manner as the 
truths of science. Therefore, to reject a revealed dogma be- 
cause it cannot be submitted to a purely natural, experimental 
test is utterly ridiculous. Truth, if it come to us at all, must 
in every case come in a manner conformable to its nature. 

Hence all our senses put together, all experimental science 
will be utterly unable to give us any inkling of the invisible, 
supernatural world, of the doctrine of future retribution, and 
of the conditions of meriting eternal life and of other revealed 
truths. (See n. 311.) 

426. We Catholics have no more doubt about the truth of any 
article of divine Catholic faith than we have of the theorems of 
Euclid ; for though the motive compelling assent is entirely dif- 
ferent and distinct in the two orders of truth, yet the strength 
of the motive in the first case is at least equal to that which 
imposes assent in the second. Thus, to illustrate this statement 
by other examples, the faithful believer is as certain of the 
truth of the Catholic doctrine on the mystery of the Holy Trinity 
or the real presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist as he is of 
the self-evident truisms that two and two make four, the whole 
is greater than any of its parts, etc. 

As soon as an authority has been shown to be trustworthy and 
reliable, as soon as it has been proved that a given witness pos- 
sesses both knowledge and veracity, the only reasonable thing 
man can do is to trust it and accept its teaching. 1 



CHAPTER II 

PERFECT RELIABILITY OF THE TESTIMONY 
OF CHRIST 

Here we ask: Does any sufficient and reliable authority 
exist in behalf of Christ's Gospel and the Christian religion 
which He founded ? This is the very keystone of the arch. The 

i See Faith and Folly, ch. 2, 2d edition. 



304 Hell, the Punitive Sanction 

whole case for Christianity turns upon this cardinal point, and 
must stand or fall with it. 

427. How easy it is for the Catholic apologist to demonstrate 
the absolute trustworthiness of the authority of Jesus Christ 
will appear from the following array of arguments which Divine 
Providence places at our disposal. 

1. The stainlessness of His character. 

2. The sublimity of His doctrines. 

3. The unrivaled beauty of His moral precepts. 

4. The incomparable holiness of His life. 

5. The numerous miracles He wrought. 

6. The fulfilment of the prophecies He made. 

7. His own triumphant Resurrection and Ascension. 

8. The astounding influence of His name throughout the past 
generations and down to the present day. 

9. The wonderful spread of His teachings so opposed to 
men 's corrupt nature and so mysterious and humiliating to their 
pride and limited intellect. 

10. The innumerable martyrs who died for His sake and sealed 
with their blood the truth of His Gospel. 

11. The history of the Church He founded, teeming with 
numberless evidences of divine sanction and heavenly protec- 
tion. 

12. The unbroken succession of His Vicars from St. Peter to 
the reigning Pontiff Benedict XV. 

13. The prodigious propagation of the Christian religion He 
founded amidst apparently insuperable obstacles. 

14. Its unshaken stability and endurance in spite of the fiercest 
and unceasing persecutions that have assailed it. 

15. The testimony of the countless millions that believed and 
professed the doctrine of Christ — a multitude including the 
wisest and purest individuals that ever lived. 

16. The beatified and canonized saints, of whom the Bollandist 
collection alone reckons twenty-five thousand, who sanctified 
themselves by the perfect imitation of the examples of Christ. 

17. Add to these the countless number, of holy people, whose 
names are known to the omniscient God alone, and whose glory, 
now hidden, will be revealed to mankind at the last judgment. 1 

428. These several arguments, fully developed in countless 
learned works, which fill the libraries of civilized countries in 
both hemispheres, furnish an overwhelming evidence of the 
perfect reliability of the authority of Jesus Christ, on which 
the truth of Christianity and all its teachings rests. No reason- 
able man will demand more. Neither is more required to dem- 
onstrate the paramount, cardinal truth that Christ was more 
than a man, that He was and is the eternal Son of the living 
God. Whence it follows that His mission is divine, His Gospel 

1 Wis. v. 1-5. 



As Divinely Revealed 305 

is divine, and that consequently all His promises, as well as all 
His threats, are true. 

429. Christ showed what He was by what He did. He re- 
versed and suspended at pleasure the laws of the material world, 
which He Himself had devised and established. The diseased 
grew well under His touch; the lepers were made clean and the 
feeble strong. He had but to speak a word and the blind saw, 
the deaf heard, and the dumb spoke. Even the dead obeyed His 
voice and rose from the tomb ; and Lazarus, though fallen to cor- 
ruption, sprang to vigorous life at His bidding. The tempests 
were instantly stilled at His command, and the wind and the 
sea were subject to the empire of His will. He walked on the 
waves, changed water into wine, and fed more than five thousand 
people in the desert with the seven multiplied loaves. Hence 
Our Saviour's convert, Nicodemus, thus addressed Him: 
' ' Rabbi, we know that Thou art come a teacher from God, for no 
man can do these signs, which Thou dost, unless God be with 
Him." 2 

Though any one of the preceding topics, taken singly, would 
be enough to satisfy any fair-minded man, their collective, cumu- 
lative force is absolutely irresistible. As the Royal Psalmist 
says: "Thy testimonies, Lord, are become exceedingly 
credible. ' ' 3 

Hence all staunch believers will fully endorse the following 
remarkable sentiment of Richard of St. Victor: 

"May we not with all confidence say to God, '0 Lord, if we 
are in error, we have been deceived by Thyself ; for our faith has 
been confirmed with miracles and prodigies so great that they 
could be performed by Thyself alone. ' " 4 



CHAPTER III 

WHY IS THERE A PUNITIVE SANCTION OF GOD'S 
LAWS, AND BY WHOM IS IT REJECTED? 

430. In every well-organized civil society, be it a republic, a 
monarchy, or a constitutional state, ample provision is made for 
the maintenance of public order and the well-being and protec- 
tion of its citizens. The lawbreakers are arrested by public offi- 
cers, and brought to the courts of justice to be dealt with accord- 
ing to the gravity of their crimes. In most of these governments 
there exist two principal deterrents from evil-doing, viz., the 
death penalty and imprisonment for life. They are intended as 
a just punishment for the most enormous offenses against the 
law, such as murder and high treason. Criminals are also justly 

2 John iii. 2. 3 p s . xcii. 5. *De Trinitate Lib. 1, c. 11. 



306 Hell, the Punitive Sanction 



removed from society for the protection of law-abiding citizens, 
to whose security the presence of evil-doers is a continual men- 
ace. 

431. A similar, though far more terrible, provision is to be 
found in God's government of mankind. Sinners are removed 
from the society of their fellow-men, and thus incapacitated from 
doing further evil, by death, which, severing the union between 
soul and body, brings the former to judgment and flings the lat- 
ter into the grave. 

God also has His prison, the dungeon of hell, to which are 
condemned the souls of the wicked. It is the life term impris- 
onment reserved by divine justice to impenitent souls. We learn 
from the soul's immortality how long this imprisonment is to 
last; forever, for the endless ages of the eternal years. We see 
how imperfect, how insignificant are the provisions of human 
justice compared with those of the divine. It is a fearful thing, 
as St. Paul warns us, "to fall into the hands of the living God." x 

432. The justice and necessity of a place of punishment in 
the world to come may be further demonstrated by arguing from 
what men exact from the civil authorities in the case of offenders 
against the State laws. 

Let us suppose that a man is found guilty of high treason or of 
some other abominable crime which makes him amenable to the 
penalty of death. But the king or chief ruler of the nation, 
wishing to exercise his right of clemency, pardons that criminal. 
What would happen in the commonwealth, if the same outrageous 
crimes were to be repeated several times by the ungrateful wretch 
and as many times forgiven by the monarch? What would be 
the attitude of the people in such an event? They would de- 
mand the immediate infliction of the extreme penalty prescribed 
by the law on that incorrigible traitor. In their eyes any further 
exhibition of clemency would be a travesty of justice, imperiling 
the well-being of the State and affording encouragement to 
evil-doers. The application of this to the transgressors of God's 
commandments is easy enough. What if they repeatedly break 
the divine law, insult and defy the majesty of the Lord, of whose 
universal governing power all earthly kings are but shadows? 
Shall there be no punishment for such criminals? Obstinately 
persevering in sin, they outrage God's patient, long-suffering 
mercy by refusing to submit to the easy and most reasonable 
condition on which full pardon would be granted. Yet they de- 
liberately choose to die in open rebellion against their Maker, 
preferring to remain His perpetual enemies, forever separated 
from Him. Now, this is hell, for the eternal loss of God alone, 
independently of other penalties, is the greatest punishment 
which the Omnipotent Judge of mankind could inflict. For any 
human being that should treat Almighty God as the reckless 

iHeb. x. 31. 



As Divinely Revealed 307 

sinner described above, the mystery should be not that there 
is a hell, but that there were no hell to punish him as he de- 
serves. 

433. In this our mortal life there is nothing that strikes greater 
terror into the mind and heart of the wicked, and is more power- 
ful in restraining men from sin than the fear of that punishment, 
which the Lord, the Supreme Judge, has threatened to inflict 
on the transgressors of His holy laws. Though virtue shows it- 
self amiable and attractive by its natural beauty and grace, yet, 
as experience teaches, the majority of men are more deeply im- 
pressed by motives of fear than by those of love. In other 
words, the dread of punishment influences men's moral conduct 
more powerfully than the hope of reward. 

St. John Chrysostom, in his Fifth Homily on St. Paul's 
Epistle to the Philippians, says that there is no turpitude, how- 
ever degrading, no crime, however monstrous, into which men 
would not plunge if they could only persuade themselves that 
no account is to be rendered of their evil deeds, and that con- 
sequently no chastisement is to be feared. Should such condi- 
tion prevail, all moral order, honesty, virtue, peace, and tran- 
quillity would disappear, and society itself would be transformed 
into hordes of wild beasts. From these results he rightly con- 
cludes that men should be highly grateful to God for having pro- 
vided so powerful a deterrent from evil-doing as is found in 
the reality of the punishment that awaits the impenitent sinner 
in the world to come. Though the recollection of this revealed 
truth is likely to give the worldlings nervous spasms and drive 
them to mental convulsions, yet we should not desist from pro- 
claiming a dogma of faith which is intended by God's infinite 
mercy as a salutary warning to the just and to bring sinners to 
a timely conversion. Hear the pertinent remark of St. Gregory 
the Great : ' ' God has established the eternal punishment of hell 
for this special reason — to deter us from the commission of 
sin." 2 

Man, whether civilized or barbarian, has an innate sense and 
love of justice. He feels that an unjust act, though not affect- 
ing himself, is a violation of the moral order and an outrage 
against the infinite majesty of the Creator. What sad spec- 
tacles he is often compelled to behold ! Never a day dawns and 
fades that some heart does not break under the weight of accu- 
mulated wrongs. Again and again are truth and honesty 
crushed to earth and, in many cases, they do not rise again, at 
least here below. Right is often on the scaffold and wrong on 
the throne. In many a quarter the poor, the innocent, and the 
helpless are ground under the feet of might and there is no de- 
liverer. Whole generations have gone groaning to the grave, 
scourged by the iniquity of rulers, and robbed by the rapacity 

2 Lib. iii, Moral. 



308 Hell, the Punitive Sanction 

of irresponsible despots. Here the reader's thoughts naturally 
revert to the persecutions of Catholics in England, Ireland, and 
Scotland for nearly three hundred years, and recall the sad fate 
of unhappy Poland, crushed under the heels of the Russian Czars 
since the day of its iniquitous partition nearly one hundred and 
fifty years ago. Where is relief to be found ? Only in the belief 
that this world is not all. If every human life ends at the grave, 
then there are wrongs that can never be righted, there are out- 
rages that can never be atoned for, sufferings and labors that 
shall never be rewarded. Without another world, where all ac- 
counts are to be evenly balanced, the present one becomes an in- 
soluble riddle and man 's life an enigma to vex his mind and tor- 
ture his heart. If heaven be a dream, and hell a delusion, if no 
invisible Supreme Judge is to be feared, if no punishment is to 
overtake the guilty in another world, then the criminals who suc- 
ceed in evading the hands of human justice will meet with no 
penalty for their misdeeds. The shrewd embezzler and the cun- 
ning peculator, who wasted in high living the fortunes entrusted 
to their keeping, whose rascalities and robberies are discovered 
only after their death, will escape all chastisement both here and 
hereafter. Life beyond the tomb must then be admitted if we 
are to retain unshaken our faith in the justice of the Supreme 
Ruler of mankind. If souls survive the dissolution of the grave, 
the tragedy of human history, it is true, is not removed; but 
men 's hearts are braced to look upon it with an unflinching forti- 
tude, and their hope is sustained by an endurance to be crowned 
by a happiness that shall have no end. We must not heed the 
momentary tribulations, nor stagger beneath the load of earthly 
cares, for all these afflictions are light and trivial in comparison 
to the joys in store for the just in our heavenly Father's home. 
"I reckon," writes St. Paul, ''that the sufferings of this time 
are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come." 3 Here 
we may ask: For whom has God especially destined the abode 
of eternal bliss? Hear St. James: "Hath not God chosen the 
poor in this world rich in faith, heirs of the kingdom which God 
hath promised to them that love Him?" 4 (See Part II, Ch. Ill 
and IV.) 

434. Were we to inquire into the principal cause or motive of 
the bitter opposition made by unbelievers, apostates, and reck- 
less sinners to this terrific, revealed truth, we would find it in the 
well-ascertained fact that nothing interferes more with their sin- 
ful enjoyments than the remembrance of the judgment to come 
and of the retribution awaiting all evil-doers in the future 
world. Long ago, that is, more than fifty years before the 
Christian era, the Roman bard Lucretius thus wrote in his poem 
De Eerum Natura: 

s Rom. viii. 18. 4 James ii. 5. 



As Divinely Revealed 309 

1 'That dreadful fear of hell is to be driven out, which thor- 
oughly disturbs the life of man and makes it miserable, overcast- 
ing all things with the gloom of death, and leaving no pure, un- 
alloyed pleasure. ' ' 5 

This is so true that whenever men resolve to pursue a career of 
iniquity they ordinarily begin by shaking off what they call the 
unsupportable yoke of religion and its dogmas, rejecting all be- 
lief in a future existence, and ridiculing the. idea of hell as a 
bugbear begotten of ignorance and superstition. The same des- 
perate course is adopted by those who either entertain no fear 
of God or deny His existence altogether. Hence the Roj^al 
Psalmist rightly says : ' ' The fool has said in his heart : There 
is no God." He then tells us what becomes of such infidels: 
"They are corrupt and are become abominable in their ways 
. . . there is no fear of God before their eyes. ' ' 6 

435. ' ' Why, ' ' says Cardinal Manning, ' ' did the inspired writer 
say: 'the fool said in his heart/ and not in his head? Is it 
not the head that does the thinking ? The Scripture is perfectly 
correct, for the denial of God's existence and of other revealed 
truths is not the result of the conviction of the head, that is, 
of the mind, but is the outcome of the corruption of the heart. ' ' 
As we read in the Book of Wisdom, King Solomon, its author, 
left to us a full description of such reckless characters, whom he 
introduces thus speaking among themselves: "They have said, 
reasoning among themselves, but not right: The time of our 
life is short and tedious . . . and no man hath been known to 
have returned from hell . . . for after this we shall be as if we 
had not been . . . our body shall be ashes, and our spirit shall 
be poured abroad as soft air. Come, therefore, let us enjoy the 
good things that are present. . . . Let us crown ourselves with 
roses, before they be withered; let no meadow escape our riot, 
for this is our portion and this our lot. . . . These things they 
thought and were deceived, for their own malice blinded them. ' ' 7 

436. What the sacred writer says of the worldlings both at the 
beginning and toward the end of the quoted chapter shows how 
utterly false was their conception of life. Lactantius 8 treats 
of this subject at great length, and by the example of the Epi- 
cureans (the worthy predecessors of our modern Bohemians) 
shows that the denial of future retribution springs invariably 
from the unrestrained indulgence in the criminal pleasures of 
the flesh, the baneful source of all other iniquities. Epicurus, 
says Lactantius, promised full impunity to the pursuit of carnal 
gratifications, and he himself wallowed in the most abominable 
carnalities, holding and teaching that such enjoyments consti- 
tute the supreme end of man. It is, then,, true that among the 

s Lib. iii, v. 37-40; see also Virgil's JSneid, 1. vii, v. 312. 6 p g . x iii. 1. 

7 Wis. ii. 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 21. s Divin. Inst. lib. iii, 3. 17. 



310 Hell, the Punitive Sanction 

chief opponents of future retribution are reckoned godless, 
immoral individuals, the pests of human society, whose dishon- 
orable lives are a blot on the dignity of man. 

Hence what the French writer La Bruyere said of atheists may 
be rightly applied, with a slight change, to the opponents of fu- 
ture punishment in the next world : 

"I would like to see a man who is sober, chaste, honest and up- 
right declare that there is no future retribution to sinners, but 
such a man cannot be found. ' ' 9 

When treating of the sanction of God's holy laws in Part II 
of our work, we proved that the only efficient, perfect, and 
complete sanction is that which belongs to future life, and it 
alone. We have now to state in detail the precise character of 
the punitive sanction provided by God's wisdom, power, and 
justice; and revealed by Himself in Holy Scripture. This we 
shall do in the following chapters. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE PAIN OF LOSS OR THE FORFEITURE OF 
HEAVENLY HAPPINESS 

437. The punitive sanction established by Almighty God, the 
Supreme Judge of mankind, consists, first, in the exclusion of the 
wicked from heavenly happiness. This chastisement chiefly 
consists in the privation of the beatific vision, the "happy-mak- 
ing" sight. It is the irreparable loss of man's highest destiny, 
and of all the spiritual enjoyments contained in it. It is the irre- 
trievable loss of all the goods possessed by the souls of the just 
in their celestial abode, God's own kingdom. At the last judg- 
ment the rebel angels, the demons, and the wicked human crea- 
tures will indeed see the person of Jesus Christ in all the splen- 
dor and majesty of His glorified humanity ; a sight to them full 
of terror and consternation ; but none of them will ever behold 
His divinity, a sight exclusively proper to the blessed in heaven. 
It is from the knowledge of irreparable loss of supreme bliss, the 
vision of God, that the chief suffering of the reprobates arises; 
a grief and sorrow so heartrending that, according to St. Augus- 
tine, no other punishment endured in hell can be compared to it. 

That the reprobates are to incur this awful penalty is a truth 
distinctly revealed in Holy Writ. A few quotations will suffice. 
We have in the first place the sentence of Jesus Christ, the Sov- 
ereign Judge: "Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting 
fire. " x "I know you not, whence you are ; depart from Me, all 
ye workers of iniquity." 2 "Know you not," writes St. Paul, 
' ' that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God ? Do not 

9 Caracteres, Ch. XVI on Freethinkers, i Matt. xxv. 41. 2 Luke xiii. 27. 



As Divinely Revealed 311 



err: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers . . . nor 
drunkards, nor extortioners shall possess the kingdom of God. ' ' 3 
In the Apocalypse we read: "Without are dogs, and sorcerers, 
and unchaste, and murderers, and every one that loveth and 
maketh a lie. ' ' 4 

438. The justice and severity of this chastisement are shown 
by the Angelic Doctor St. Thomas in several passages of his writ- 
ings. He thus reasons in his work Contra Gentiles: "Natural 
equity requires that rational creatures should be deprived of the 
good against which they deliberately act and rebel, as thereby 
they render themselves unworthy of that good as they wilfully 
reject it. Whosoever, therefore, sins against his last end, which 
is everlasting beatitude, attainable by submission to the divine 
will, is deservedly forever excluded from it. ' ' 5 

Then elsewhere he says that the privation of the beatific vision 
and consequent separation from God is for the reprobates a 
greater torment than that of hell's fire, and states the reason by 
contrasting it with the state of the blessed : ' ' Man 's perfect fu- 
ture happiness, as to his intellect, consists in the full vision of 
God ; and, as to his will, in the perfect love of Him. Hence the 
reprobate's extreme misery is caused by his complete privation 
of the divine sight on the part of his intellect, and his total aver- 
sion from divine goodness on the part of his will. ' ' 6 The same 
truth is testified most forcibly by St. John Chrysostom in sev- 
eral parts of his works. In his Twenty-third Homily on St. Mat- 
thew 's Gospel he writes: "Hell's fire is indeed an intolerable 
and horrible punishment ; yet I believe that hell 's torments, mul- 
tiplied a thousandfold, do not equal the awful penalty of being 
forever excluded from the glory of heaven. ' ' And in his Forty- 
seventh Homily to the people of Antioch he writes: "The 
reason why we do not fully understand how great a misery it is 
to be excluded from heavenly glory is because in the present life 
we do not realize the magnitude of the happiness of paradise re- 
sulting particularly from the clear vision of God and His infi- 
nite perfections." What intensifies the grief of the damned is 
their witnessing from their place of torments till the last 
judgment the glory and happiness of the blessed. Our Blessed 
Saviour thus spoke to the obstinate Jews : ■ ' You shall see Abra- 
ham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom 
of God, and you yourselves thrust out. ' ' 7 See also the parable 
of Lazarus and the rich man in the Sixteenth Chapter of St. 
Luke, verses 19-31. But the most convincing argument of the 
truth we are asserting is that presented by the sacred writer in 
the Book of Wisdom: These [the reprobates] seeing it [the 
just in glory], shall be troubled with terrible fear . . . saying 
within themselves, . . . : " These are they whom we had some- 

3 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10. 4Apoc. xxii. 15. 5 Lib. iii, c. 144. 

e Opusc. i, 175. 7 Luke xiii. 28. 



312 Hell, the Punitive Sanction 

time in derision . . . We fools esteemed their life madness and 
their end without honor. Behold how they are numbered among 
the children of God, and their lot is among the saints. Therefore 
we have erred from the way of truth . . . the way of the Lord 
we have not known. " 8 It is difficult to conceive how keen will 
be the grief and regret of the wicked when they recall the 
fact that they also had been created for the happiness of heaven ; 
that such happiness had been placed by a most benign Providence 
within their easy reach and that they irrevocably missed it 
through their own foolish abuse of freedom. Abuse of human 
liberty, says St. Bernard, is the only cause of hell's torments, as 
its legitimate use is the cause of heaven's happiness. 



CHAPTER V 

THE PAIN OF SENSE— FIRE HELL'S CHIEF TORMENT 

In Part II of this work, when treating of the sanction of God 's 
holy laws, we adduced some of the chief reasons why the puni- 
tive sanction to be efficacious must also contain sensitive pains. 

This point having been sufficiently demonstrated, particularly 
from the authority of St. Thomas, 1 we proceed at once to the dis- 
cussion of the present chapter. 

439. Here we shall not dwell on any specific torments, invented 
by ill-advised writers and preachers, for which no warrant can 
be found in the Sacred Records ; but we shall limit ourselves to 
the statement of such pains and afflictions as have been distinctly 
and clearly revealed by God Himself and are contained in Holy 
Scripture, from which neither human nor diabolical malice shall 
ever be able to efface them. The late Canon Farrar, the notori- 
ous advocate of a second trial of sinners in the next world, in his 
' ' Eternal Hope, ' ' expressed his ardent wish that the three harsh 
and most unwelcome words, "damnation," "hell," and "ever- 
lasting," should be erased from the English Bible. But they 
are still there, as well as in all the million Bibles printed in 
every language spoken under the sun. Shall rationalists ever 
attempt to expunge them? 

We are now treating of the chief instrument of divine justice 
for the punishment of sinners, the fire lighted up, as Holy Scrip- 
ture tells us, by God's own anger. "For Tophet [meaning 
Gehenna or hell] is prepared from yesterday, prepared by the 
King, deep and wide. The nourishment thereof is fire and much 
wood ; the breath of the Lord as a torrent of brimstone kindling 
it. " 2 So frequent is its mention in Holy Writ that pages might 
be filled with its quotations. Only some of the principal and 

s Wis. v. 2-7. i Contra Gentiles, lib. iii, ch. 145. 2 l s . xxx. 33. 



As Divinely Revealed 313 

clearest passages will here be cited from both Testaments: 
"Which of you can dwell with devouring fire? Which of you 
shall dwell with everlasting burnings?' 3 "Woe be to the na- 
tion that riseth up against my people; for the Lord Almighty 
will take revenge on them. . . . For He will give fire and worms 
into their flesh, that they may burn and may feel forever. ' ' 4 

440. Coming now to the New Testament, we find that the 
burden of St. John the Baptist 's preaching lay chiefly in threat- 
ening impenitent sinners with hell's fire in the world to come. 
"Every tree, therefore, that doth not yield good fruit, shall be 
cut down and cast into the fire. The Lord will thoroughly 
cleanse His floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but the 
chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire. ' ' 5 

But one of the clearest and most startling utterances of our 
Divine Redeemer on this dreadful subject is that registered in 
St. Mark's Gospel, in which three terrific truths are revealed 
and forcibly expressed, viz. : 

1. The existence of future punishment. 

2. The presence of fire as one of the chief torments of hell. 

3. The eternal duration of both the infernal pains, and of the 
reprobates condemned to suffer them. 

"And if thy hand scandalize thee, cut it off: it is better for 
thee to enter into life, maimed, than having two hands to go into 
hell, into unquenchable fire ; where their worm dieth not, and the 
fire is not extinguished. 

"And if thy foot scandalize thee, cut it off: it is better for 
thee to enter lame into life everlasting than having two feet to 
be cast into the hell of unquenchable fire where their worm dieth 
not, and the fire is not extinguished. 

"And if thy eye scandalize thee, pluck it out: it is better 
for thee with one eye to enter into the kingdom of God than hav- 
ing two eyes to be cast into the hell of fire; where their worm 
dieth not, and the fire is not extinguished. ' ' 6 

St. Augustine, commenting on this text, writes: "Who is 
there that will not be terrified by this threefold repetition, the 
fearful threatening of the severest of all punishments by Christ 
Himself, the Sovereign Judge of the living and the dead?" 

441. By the figurative expressions of cutting off the hand and 
the foot and plucking out the eye, our Divine Master meant to 
teach us the necessity of removing all occasions of sin, of root- 
ing out the causes that lead to evil-doing, and of shunning all 
danger of scandal. "If, therefore," He meant to tell us, "you 
love and value something as much as if it were your hand, foot, 
or eye, and you should know that such a thing would be to you a 
cause of evil, you should bravely remove it lest by neglecting it, 
you should be plunged into the unquenchable fire." 

3 Ibid. Is. xxxiii. 14. 5 Matt. iii. 10, 12. 6 Mark ix. 42-47. 

* Judith xvi. 20, 21. 



314 Hell, the Punitive Sanction 

442. As we read in Matthew xxv. 41, 46, and in Mark ix. 42- 
47, Christ's own words remain the most terrific that have ever 
been spoken in the ears of men. And they will retain their force 
and import, however ingenious may be the attempts to empty 
them of their meaning. In such a matter as this it is surely a 
most dangerous procedure for any man to seek refuge in a false 
security and to allow the impression to take root that by ignoring 
the unwelcome truth it has ceased to exist for us, or that we 
have escaped the responsibility which its recognition entails. 
Our duty is rather to face it bravely, and, God helping us, to 
seek for a safe and divinely appointed means of escape. Hence 
the most cultured and enlightened Catholic and Protestant 
writers have explicitly stated it as their intimate conviction that 
the doctrine here referred to is a vital and integral part of God 's 
revelation in Holy Scripture, and that the only wise and honest 
thing for us to do is to acknowledge the stern fact, and for 
evangelical ministers fearlessly to proclaim it to their flocks. 

We find in St. John's Gospel the following words of our 
Blessed Saviour : "If any one abide not in Me, he shall be cast 
forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him 
up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth. ' ' 7 

St. Paul thus warns his Christian flock, the Thessalonians : 
"Ina flame of fire, giving vengeance to them who know not God, 
and who obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who 
shall suffer eternal punishment. ' ' 8 

We end our quotations with a testimony from the Apocalypse 
or Revelation, the last Book of the New Testament: "But the 
fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, 
and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, 
they shall have their portion in the pool burning with fire and 
brimstone, which is the second death. ' ' 9 

For the true meaning of the words "second death" see Part 
VIII. The term "fire," contained in the preceding texts and 
in many other Scriptural testimonies, is to be understood in its 
obvious, literal sense, so long as such interpretation is not found 
conflicting with other passages of God's word, with any explicit 
doctrinal definition, or with moral principles known to reason. 
On this account we claim that the word "fire" must be taken 
in its obvious significance, excluding altogether all metaphorical 
interpretation. A fuller discussion of this matter is given in 
Part IX. 

443. This is the doctrine of the Catholic Church. As to the 
outsiders, who, perverting God's plan, have, in expounding Holy 
Scripture, substituted the fallible tribunal of private judgment 
for the infallible authority of the Church, we are not surprised 
at the many novel interpretations of hell's fire, to which they 

7 John xv. 6. 8 2 Thess. i. 8, 9. 9 Apoc. xxi. 8. 



As Divinely Revealed 315 

attribute a purely metaphorical meaning. By so doing they 
simply follow the example of the early Reformers, Calvin in 
particular, who held that all such expressions as " hell's fire/' 
"burnings," "sulphur," "brimstone," and the like are to be 
taken figuratively. But shall they, by their denials and free, 
liberal interpretations, extinguish the flames kindled by the 
breath of the Lord? 10 

The holy prophet Job thus speaks of the penalty awaiting the 
wicked man in the next world : "A fire that is not kindled shall 
devour him. This is the portion of a wicked man from God, 11 
— a text thus explained by the renowned Biblical scholar Tirinus, 
S. J., "A fire not kindled by earthly fuel, but lighted by the 
power of God, who uses it as the instrument of His justice and 
maintains its action for the eternal torment of the wicked. ' ' 12 

444. As to any official pronouncement from the 'Catholic 
Church on this point, we must bear in mind the following im- 
portant distinction. The fact of the actual presence of fire in 
hell is one thing; but a definition or explanation of the inner 
nature of such a fire is quite another. As to the fact itself, we 
need not look for any dogmatic decision, for it is not needed at 
all, since such a fact is clearly and explicitly stated in both the 
Old and New Testament. As to the character or nature of 
the fire, the thing to be determined is not whether it is a fire 
resembling any of the different kinds of fire we are acquainted 
with in this world — a matter which the Church is not likely 
ever to define — but rather whether it is a real and not a meta- 
phorical fire in the Calvinistic sense. 

445. It is highly important to maintain that hell's fire is not 
a metaphorical or imaginary fire, but a real one ; namely, a fire 
that actually torments the reprobates — the demons and the 
damned souls before the last judgment, and both the souls and 
the bodies of the wicked after the general resurrection. So 
strong are the arguments from Holy Scripture, tradition 
and the authority of theologians, in favor of this statement, 
that, as Hurter remarks, it would be rash to assert that the in- 
fernal fire is not real but metaphorical. An assertion is said to 
be rash when it is opposed to the doctrine commonly taught and 
received in the Church, though it may not as yet have been 
defined as an article of faith. 

There are many passages both in the Old and the New Testa- 
ments referring to real, corporeal, or material fire as the chief 
penalty of the wicked in hell. 13 Among other Scriptural testi- 
monies must be singled out those to which it is impossible to 
attribute a metaphorical meaning, as they speak of the proper- 
ties, characters, and effects exclusively applicable to real fire, 

io Is. xxx. 33. ii Job xx. 26, 29. 12 Tirinus in Job xx. 26. 

is See Passaglia, De Igne Inferno Non Metaphorico, pp. 47-58 ; and 
Chatel. De Igne Inferni, pp. 16-19. 



316 Hell, the Punitive Sanction 

such as the fiery furnace into which the chaff — that is, the 
wicked — are cast ; 14 the lake of burning fire and brimstone ; 15 
and the flame tormenting the damned. 16 

We freely grant that among hell's torments there are some 
which must be taken figuratively or metaphorically, and this 
for evident reasons that cannot be applied to the pain of fire. 
Thus, for instance, in Chapter IX of St. Mark's Gospel, we find 
mentioned along with the unquenchable fire the undying worm, 
the worm that dieth not, repeated three times. According to 
St. Thomas, several Fathers, and the almost unanimous opinion 
of theologians, the term "worm" is plainly metaphorical, mean- 
ing the remorse incessantly pricking the conscience of the repro- 
bates. And this for the obvious reason that it is impossible for 
a living worm to affect spiritual substances, such as the fallen 
spirits and the human souls, or even the risen bodies of the 
reprobates, which will be absolutely incorruptible. (See n. 455.) 

Bible history tells us that on several occasions Almighty God 
punished sinners in this life by the chastisement of fire. The 
punishment inflicted on the impure cities of Sodom and Go- 
morrha was of this type. 17 Fire from heaven consumed the two 
first captains of fifty men and the fifties that were with them, 
who had been sent by King Ochozias against the prophet Elias. 18 

Thus we see that even in this life the Lord made use of fire as 
the instrument of His justice for the punishment of sinners ; an 
instrument eminently fitted for that purpose, as it causes most 
excruciating pains. If hell's fire were only like the one we are 
acquainted with in this world, such a torture would be frightful 
indeed. But let us see how our fire differs from that of hell : 

A. The principal efficient cause of our present fire, intended 
for our use and comfort, is God, as the Author, Kuler, and Gov- 
ernor of nature; and God as Supreme Judge and avenger of 
sinners is likewise the Author of the fire of hell. 

B. The present fire is produced and maintained by natural 
agents. The breath of the Lord as a torrent of brimstone kindles 
the fire of hell. 19 

C. Our fire can act on our souls only through the medium of 
the body ; the Lord 's fire in hell reaches and torments the soul di- 
rectly and independently of bodily organs. 

D. Lastly, the fire of the present world may be diminished 
and extinguished by men; but the fire of the next world is un- 
quenchable, for it is kept up by the power of God. 

Hell's fire, then, is not metaphorical, as Calvin taught ; but real, 
corporeal, and material. Though there exists no explicit, dog- 
matic definition by the Church on this point, yet this is the com- 
mon doctrine held by Catholic theologians with scarcely any 

I* Matt. xiii. 42. is Apoc. xxi. 8. ie Luke xvi. 24. 

17 Gen. xix. 24. is 4 Kings i. 14. i» Is. xxx. 33. 



As Divinely Revealed 317 

exception. It therefore cannot be called in question by any 
Catholic without rashness. Suarez sums up the general opinion 
of theologians as follows : ' ' It is a certain and Catholic doctrine 
that the fire tormenting the rebel angels and the souls of the 
wicked is truly real and corporeal. ' ' 20 

446. As to this last point, we freely grant that there exists as 
yet no formal, dogmatic definition, though the Sensus Ecclesice 
and patristic tradition evidently exclude altogether the meta- 
phorical meaning. 

We possess, however, a practical direction from a Roman Con- 
gregation regarding the confessors' attitude toward a class of 
penitents who obstinately cling to a metaphorical meaning of 
the fire of hell. The case presented to the Sacra Poenitentiaria 
was as follows: A penitent presents himself to a confessor, 
and, among other things, declares that, in his opinion, the fire 
of hell is not real, but metaphorical ; in this sense, that the pains 
of hell, whatever they may be, are said to be fire only figura- 
tively, because, as fire produces the most intense suffering, so to 
indicate that hell's torments are most atrocious, no other image 
was more fit to give an idea of hell. Hence the parish priest 
asks whether it would be right to allow penitents to hold such 
an opinion, and whether it would be lawful to absolve them. 

The same priest further remarks, that it is not a question of 
an opinion held only by some individuals, but maintained gen- 
erally by the people of a certain town, where it is said : * ' Con- 
vince children, if you can, that there is fire in hell." 

The answer of the Sacred Congregation was as follows: 
"Such penitents must be diligently instructed, and, if they re- 
main obstinate (contumaces), they cannot be absolved." — Rome, 
April 30, 1890. 21 

447. What is the teaching of St. Thomas on this question? 
He treats of it in several parts of his works. We here cite a few 
of them : Suppl. p.iii, q. 97, art. 1, 5, 6 ; Contra Gent. 1. iv. c. 90 ; 
In iv. Sent. dist. 50, q. 2, art. 3. 

The same Angelic Doctor after quoting from St. Augus- 
tine, who says "that Gehenna will be a real fire, which will tor- 
ment the bodies of the reprobates," says that "the bodies of the 
damned after the resurrection, will be afflicted by a corporeal 
fire, which will burn but not consume them." And he, more- 
over, states that both the fallen angels, the demons, and the 
damned souls are punished by a bodily fire, acting as an instru- 
ment of divine justice. It is needless to allege the opinion of 
the theologians of the subsequent ages, for, with very few excep- 
tions, they all hold and teach the common doctrine that hell's 

20 De Angelis, 1. viii, c. 12. 

2i See Buceroni's Enchiridion, p. 35 ; Ojetti's Synopsis, Third Edition, 
vol. ii. p. 2341. 



318 Hell, the Punitive Sanction 

fire is not something metaphorical or symbolical, but a real and 
corporeal agent. 

Father Rickaby remarks in his comment on Contra Gentiles, 
page 317, note: "If, then, the saying holds that in the things 
wherein a man has sinned in the same shall he be punished, fire, 
a most painful instrument of pain, forms not an unfit punish- 
ment for one who has abused the good things of our present ex- 
istence to offend his Creator and Supreme Benefactor. ' ' 22 

The fallen spirits, the demons, and the reprobate souls are 
tormented by the fire of hell. That the rebel angels are actually 
tormented by the fire of hell, even when allowed by divine per- 
mission to roam over the earth till the universal judgment, is a 
terrible truth, clearly revealed in Holy Writ, as is plain from 
the words of the Supreme Judge, reproduced in St. Matthew's 
Gospel: "Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, 
which was prepared for the devil and his angels. ' ' 23 It is plain 
that such a fire could not be designated as a punishment, if it 
were impossible for the reprobate spirits to suffer any such 
pain. 

As to the fact that the souls of the lost are actually enduring 
the pains of hell fire, we are assured of it by the sentence of 
the Supreme Judge against them : ' ' Depart from Me, ye cursed, 
into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his 
angels. ' ' 

Hence St. Gregory the Great writes : "One and the same pain, 
fire, afflicts the demons and the reprobate souls, since they have 
both sinned. ' ' 24 

Our Saviour's parable of the rich man and Lazarus points out 
the same terrific truth. The rich man, who had been buried in 
hell, lifting up his eyes, when he was in pains, cried out and said : 
' ' I am tormented in this flame. ' ' 25 

In the present state of union, though it is the soul that experi- 
ences the sensation of pain, yet it is so affected through the or- 
gans of the body, which act as a medium bringing the soul in 
contact with external objects, thus producing the sensation of 
pain. Now God's power can certainly supply the absence of 
the body and act on the soul without the concurrence of organic 
mediums. 26 

448. The solution of a common difficulty encountered here will 
fully clear this matter. All the sensations, it is argued, experi- 
enced by the soul in the present life, are caused through the 
medium of the organs of the body. Now, how can the soul, 
separated from the body by death, experience such sensations 
as are caused by hell 's fire ? 

We answer with St. Thomas, that hell's fire, as an instrument 

=2 Patuzzi, oper. cit. pp. 191-199. 23 Matt. xxv. 41. 24 Moral. 1. i, n. 14. 

25 Luke xvi. 24. 26 St. Thomas, Supplem. p. iii, q. 70, art. 3. 



As Divinely Revealed 319 

of divine justice, can certainly act on pure spirits without the 
need of bodily organisms, for Almighty God can doubtless act 
independently of any medium. 

Though the demons by divine permission are allowed to roam 
through the earth till the day of the last judgment, yet they 
are not exempted in those intervals from the pains inflicted 
upon them from the moment of their rebellion to their Maker, 
which they have to suffer for all eternity. 

As to the lost souls, we cannot suppose that they are in a 
better condition than the rebel spirits; hence, if by God's per- 
mission they should ever be allowed to come out of hell for 
some definite period of time, they must carry along with them 
the torments endured in the infernal regions. But see Luke 
xvi. 26. 

As the voluptuous make the sense of feeling the principal in- 
strument or means of their sinful delights, Divine Justice has 
therefore most wisely ordained to punish in hell their sensibility 
by fire, which, even among men, is reckoned as the most ex- 
cruciating torment, styled ultimum tormentorum, that is, the 
most painful of all torments. This is done in accordance with 
the vindicative law laid down by God Himself in Holy Writ: 
"By what things a man sinneth, by the same also he is tor- 
mented." 27 

St. John, representing the sensualist under the image of the 
unclean Babylon, says of her: "As much as she hath glorified 
herself, and lived in delicacies, so much torment and sorrow give 
ye to her. ' ' 28 

449. We must not suppose that our fire, which the Creator has 
given us for our utility and comfort, can be compared with the 
dreadful fire of hell, which He has lit up for the punishment of 
His enemies. Hence the rich glutton did not simply complain 
that he was tormented in fire, but that he was tortured in such 
a fire as that of hell — "Crucior in hac flamma." — "I am tor- 
mented in this flame. ' ' 29 

Compared with this dreadful fire, says St. Augustine, the 
most painful torments of this life are simply trifling and of no 
account. And the Angelic Doctor declares that the lightest 
pain caused by hell's fire surpasses in intensity the aggregate 
sufferings that may be endured in the present life. The author 
of the ' ' Imitation of Christ ' ' says truly that ' ' One hour of pun- 
ishment in hell will be more grievous than a hundred years of 
the most austere penance here. ' ' 30 

As to the supernatural power of hell's fire, we may say that 
if the fire of hell is so terrible on account of its natural in- 
tensity, it is far more so because it is employed by the Almighty 
as the instrument of Divine Justice in punishing obdurate sin- 
27 Wis. xi. 17. 28Apoc. xviii. 7. 29 Luke xvi. 24. so Book i, ch. 24, n. 4. 



320 Hell, the Punitive Sanction 

ners. "A fire is kindled in My rage, saith the Lord, it shall 
burn upon you. ' ' 31 

Hence its power must not be judged according to its own 
natural activity, but according to the omnipotence of its divine 
Author, who imparts to it a force and violence proportioned to 
the end He has in view. And what is His end ? It is to avenge 
the insults offered to His sovereign majesty, whose merciful ad- 
vances were indignantly repelled even to the bitter end. The 
fire of hell, then, is ordained and meant to attest in a public 
manner God's infinite hatred for sin, and to proclaim the fact 
that the Supreme Judge cannot be outraged with impunity. 
Moreover, that fire is directed by Divine Wisdom and Justice to 
torment with greater vehemence the faculties and senses of the 
reprobates, which were more abused for the purpose of sin. 

Therefore each of the damned, says the prophet, will suffer 
in his own fire, that is, in the fire which he has kindled for him- 
self by his evil deeds. "Behold all ye that kindle a fire, encom- 
passed with flames, walk in the light of your fire and in the flames 
which you have kindled" 32 — a prophetic thought thus de- 
veloped by St. Jerome in its interpretation: "The fire, which 
punishes the sinner in hell, is fed by the iniquities he committed 
on earth, which are, as it were, its fuel, as they were the cause 
of his reprobation." 33 

450. It cannot be accidental — that is, without a purpose — that 
Holy Scripture contains far more warnings of hell than promises 
of heaven. He who searches the hearts and reins knows full 
well what truth is best calculated to stay and direct the weak 
and frail mind of man. It has been said — we think with truth — 
that fear of hell has saved more souls than meditation on heaven. 
Although fear is not the highest incentive to virtue, it is never- 
theless the most powerful in the critical moments of life, and in 
the intoxicating allurements of certain temptations, to restrain 
the human will from wrong, and impel it. to good. Moved, no 
doubt, by such consideration, St. Ignatius in his "Spiritual Ex- 
ercises ' ' remarks that in the meditation on hell we should entreat 
the Lord to grant us an interior perception and vivid realization 
of the pains which the lost suffer in order that, if we should fail 
to be moved to virtue by the love of God, the fear of punish- 
ment, at least, may deter us from falling into sin. 

CHAPTER VI 

ADDITIONAL INFERNAL PAINS ACCORDING TO 
HOLY WRIT 

Fire, as we have seen, is indeed the chief torment of hell ; but 
alas ! it is not the only one. In fact, Holy Scripture assures us 
3i Jer. xv. 14. 32 i s . 1. 11. 33 l n Isaiam loc. cit. 



As Divinely Revealed 321 

that the reprobates will also be subject to the following bitter 
afflictions and privations. The reason for these additional pains 
is thus expressed by St. Thomas : "As the damned in many and 
various ways offended the Lord, so it is just that their sufferings 
also should be manifold. ' ' 1 

"He [the wicked man] shall burn, and every pain shall fall 
upon him. ' ' 2 

A. THE TORMENT OP INFERNAL DARKNESS 

451. I open the Gospel and there I read the sentence pro- 
nounced by the king against the guest who ventured to appear 
at the royal banquet without the wedding-garment : i ' Then the 
king said to the waiters : Bind his hands and feet and cast him 
into the exterior darkness. ' ' 3 The darkness is called ' ' exterior, ' ' 
for the reprobates will forever be deprived of the resplendent 
light found in heaven, the abode of the eternal King. 

In the seventeenth chapter of the Book of Wisdom we read 
that Almighty God, to punish the obstinacy of King Pharao 
and his people, covered their land with the most intense dark- 
ness, which made them terribly afraid and troubled, filling them 
with the dread of monsters. "Stretch out, said the Lord to 
Moses, thy hand toward heaven, and may there be darkness 
upon the land of Egypt, as thick that it may be felt. And Moses 
stretched forth his hand toward heaven and there came hor- 
rible darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. ' ' 4 

That such chastisement was intended to represent a similar 
affliction in hell we are assured by the writer of the Book of Wis- 
dom, quoted above, who concludes the description of the Egyp- 
tian darkness by the following significant words: "Over them 
only was spread a heavy night, an image of that darkness, 
which was to come upon them. ' ' 5 

As to the difficulty that hell's fire must, through its light, ex- 
clude darkness, it has been forestalled and answered by St. 
Thomas, who, quoting the authority of Pope St. Gregory, says 
that the fire tormenting the reprobates in hell will have only 
enough light to cause them to see what will sadden and afflict 
them, such as the sight of their companions and accomplices in 
sin. St. Teresa, writing concerning her experience of the pains 
of hell, when by a special disposition of God 's will she suddenly 
found herself in hell, speaks as follows: "Though there was 
no light, yet all that is most frightful and painful to the sight 
could be seen. ' ' 6 

B. THE TORMENT OF HUNGER 

452. Following are the words of Christ in His Gospel: "Woe 
to you that are filled, for you shall hunger. ' ' 7 The same afflic- 

i Suppl. p. iii, q. 97, art. 1. 2 Job xx. 22. sMatt. xxii. 13. 

* Ex. x. 21, 22. 5 Wis. xvii. 20. 

« Autobiography, ch. 32, n. 5. 7 Luke vi. 25. 



322 Hell, the Punitive Sanction 

tion has been foretold by the prophet Isaias, who, contrasting the 
enjoyments of the blessed in heaven with the sufferings of the 
reprobates in hell, writes: "Therefore, thus saith the Lord 
God: Behold My servants shall eat and you shall be hun- 
gry/' 8 

St. Gregory of Nyssa, commenting on Psalm lviii. v. 7: 
"They shall suffer hunger like dogs," applies it to the hunger 
endured by the damned in hell. To form some idea of the se- 
verity of this affliction, let us suppose that we should be deprived 
of food for a few days. The sting of hunger would tear up our 
very bowels and cause unheard-of pains ; and, if no timely relief 
is afforded, we should soon die amidst awful tortures. Dante's 
heartbreaking description of the death from hunger of Count 
Ugolino, his two sons, and two grandsons in the Tower of Pisa, 
called since the Tower of Famine, makes us shudder in reading 
it. 9 What must then be the torment of hunger to be endured 
in hell for all eternity ! 

C. THE TORMENT OF THIRST 

453. That the reprobates will also suffer this torment we are 
assured by Holy Scripture in both Testaments. The prophet 
Job, describing the several miseries and afflictions that will over- 
take the impious man, says: "And thirst shall burn against 
him, ' ' 10 which sentence commentators interpret as indicating 
the rabid thirst endured by the wicked in hell. The prophet 
Isaias, contrasting the delights of the blessed with the privations 
of the lost, writes: "Thus saith the Lord God; behold My 
servants shall drink, and you shall be thirsty. ' ' " 

As to the New Testament, we need only refer to Our Lord's 
parable of the rich man and Lazarus. As the evangelist tells 
us : " The rich man died and was buried in hell. And he cried 
and said: Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send 
Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his fingers in water, to cool 
my tongue ; for I am tormented in this flame. " 12 His asking 
the drop of water shows how intense must have been the thirst 
he suffered. Such will be one of the punishments of the glut- 
tons and the drunkards, of whom St. Paul thus speaks in his 
Epistle to the Philippians. "They are enemies of the cross of 
Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly.' ' 13 

D. WEEPING IN HELL 

454. That this torment also will afflict the wicked in hell we 
learn from the following sad prediction of our Blessed Redeemer. 
"The children of the kingdom [the incredulous Jews] shall be 
cast out into the exterior darkness; there shall be weeping and 

s Is. lxxv. 13. 9 Inferno, xxxiii. io Job xviii. 9. 

ii Is. lxxv. 13. 12 Luke xvi. 24. 13 Philipp. iii. 18, 19, 



As Divinely Revealed 323 

gnashing of teeth." 14 "Woe to you that now laugh; for you 
shall mourn and weep." 15 

What is the chief reason of such unceasing weeping and lamen- 
tations on the part of the wicked? It is mainly caused by the 
recollection of the many means of conversion offered to them by 
God's mercy, which they wilfully rejected. This will compel 
them to acknowledge themselves as the victims of their own 
obstinacy, and weeping they will be forced to exclaim: "Thou 
art just, Lord, and Thy judgment is right." 16 

E. THE GNAWING WORM 

455. In that striking passage of St. Mark's Gospel, 17 the tor- 
ment of remorse, there represented by the undying worm, is re- 
peated three times. It is the opinion of several of the Fathers, 
and the doctrine of the majority of theologians and commenta- 
tors of Holy Scripture that by this expression is meant the re- 
morse of conscience. The Fathers that have treated this ques- 
tion and interpreted the undying worm as the endless remorse 
of conscience afflicting the reprobates, are the following: St. 
Ambrose, St. Jerome, St. Prosper, St. Bernard, Victor of An- 
tioch. 18 St. Augustine cites with approval the explanation of 
those who say that whilst hell 's fire torments the soul, and, after 
the resurrection, also the body of the reprobates ; the worm, that 
is, the remorse of conscience, constitutes a particular torture of 
the soul. 19 (Seen. 445.) 

Such is also the teaching of St. Thomas, who in his Summa 
speaks thus : ' ' By the worm that torments the damned is meant 
the remorse of conscience; and it is so called because, as the 
material living worm causes pain by its sting, so does remorse 
prick, as it were, the reprobate soul. ' ' 20 

Even in this life remorse is found at times so insupportable 
that criminals in a fit of hatred committed most cruel deeds 
even against themselves. But what is such remorse compared 
with that which is suffered in hell? In the present life, se- 
duced by the allurements of a carnal world, steeped in wicked- 
ness, and deceived by ignorance, men fail to realize the de- 
formity of sin, the fatal results of a death in impenitence ; 
whilst in the future world the sinner will fully understand the 
turpitude of the divine offense, the honor due to the supreme 
majesty of the Creator, the greatness of the heavenly goods which 
he forfeited, and the justice of the eternal punishment which he 
incurred. The Holy Ghost gives us an insight into these lamen- 

i* Matt. viii. 12. 

15 Luke vi. 25. See also Matt. xxii. 13; xxiv. 51; xxv. 30; Luke xiii. 28. 

is Ps. cxviii, 137. See St. Thomas, Suppl. p. iii, q. 97, art. 3. 

17 Mark ix. 43-47. 

is See Patuzzi, 1. 11, pp. 132-136, where the words of these writers are 
stated and commented upon. 

is De Civit. Dei, c. xxii. 20 Suppl. p. iii, q. 97, art. 2. 



324 Hell, the Punitive Sanction 

tations and fruitless regrets of the reprobates : ' ' Saying within 
themselves, repenting and groaning for anguish of spirit. . . . 
We have erred from the way of truth ... we wearied ourselves 
in the way of iniquity and destruction . . . but the way of the 
Lord we have not known. . . . Such things as these the sinners 
said in hell." 21 

St. John Chrysostom thus concludes one of his sermons on this 
subject : " Hell's fire is indeed intolerable ; but even if multiplied 
in intensity it will never equal the heartrending remorse felt by 
the damned for having, through the abuse of their free will, ex- 
cluded themselves forever from the presence of God and the com- 
pany of the blessed, and plunged themselves into the dungeon 
of hell." 22 

The dreadful catalogue we have made of the pains suffered 
by the lost proves how true are the words of the holy prophet 
Job, who, speaking of the short prosperity of the wicked and 
their downfall, sums up all their sufferings in the infernal 
prison in this brief sentence: "He shall burn and every sor- 
row shall fall upon him. ' ' 23 St. Bernard was right then, when 
he defined hell as the place containing all evils and excluding all 
goods. 

St. Thomas teaches that there is no species of suffering to 
which the damned shall not be subjected in order that their 
misery may be complete. 24 

F. THE SOUL'S DREADFUL SOLITUDE IN HELL 

456. Among the delights enjoyed by men in this world must 
be reckoned those that are derived from pleasant social inter- 
course with their fellow creatures, particularly with the learned 
and the virtuous. In fact, man is made for society, and society 
itself rightly claims its origin and blessings from God, its Author. 
Individuals who are deprived of their liberty and of communi- 
cation with their fellow-citizens in punishment of their crimes 
feel most keenly their compulsory solitude and condemnation 
to almost perpetual silence. But can such suffering of the 
present life be compared with the eternal exclusion of the wicked 
from the society of the blessed? Or will the company of the 
reprobates and the demons, the fallen angels, afford to the 
damned any compensation for the loss of the society of the elect ? 
On the contrary, the lost would prefer an everlasting solitude 
to their forced and inevitable association with what is worst 
among men and the rebel spirits. 

In this connection we here record the answer of the Angelic 
Doctor to the question whether, after the general judgment the 
wicked in hell will still behold the glory of the blessed, as they 

21 Wis. v. 3, 6, 7, 14. 22 Migne, Cursus Script, vol. xiii. p. 1220. 

23 Job. xx. 22. 

2* In IV Sent., dist. 1, qu. 2, art. 3; Suppl. p. iii, q. 97, art. 1. 



As Divinely Revealed 325 

do now and will, in a most striking manner, witness at the last 
judgment, as testified in the fifth chapter of the Book of Wisdom. 
He answers as follows: "After the day o± judgment the repro- 
bates will be entirely deprived of the vision of the saints. But 
this privation, instead of diminishing, will, on the contrary, in- 
crease their misery, for two reasons: First, because they will 
forever retain the remembrance of the glory of the blessed, which 
they had seen at the judgment and before it. Secondly, be- 
cause they will see themselves treated as unworthy even of 
further beholding the happiness enjoyed by their fellow-beings, 
the saints. 25 

457. No believing Christian can read these and the following 
pages without being struck with terror at the thought of the 
mere possibility that hell with all its horrors distinctly pro- 
claimed in Holy Scripture might be his eternal abode. What 
a transition, what a change for a lost soul in passing from the 
resplendent, genial light of our planet into the gloom of the in- 
fernal dungeon! What a change for the rich glutton of the 
Gospel from the banquet hall to the endurance of hunger and 
thirst that awaited him in the dread Gehenna ! What an awful 
passage for all the voluptuous from the scenes of their intoxi- 
cating, carnal pleasures to the prison of hell! As Holy Writ 
warns us, "They shall have their portion in the pool burning 
with fire and brimstone. ' ' 26 

The fear of God, properly understood, is that which Holy 
Writ calls the beginning of wisdom. Prophets, apostles, and 
their Divine Master persistently impress this motive. Among 
the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, no one spoke more 
forcibly and eloquently of such fear as a powerful deterrent 
from sin than the large-hearted and golden-mouthed St. Chrysos- 
tom: "If we are always thinking of hell we shall not easily 
fall into it. For this reason God has threatened punishment, 
fixing this menace in our soul, that its remembrance may keep 
us from sin. None of those who have hell before their eyes will 
fall into it; and none of those who despise hell, and deny its 
existence, will escape it. Those who condemn divine threats 
will sooner or later experience their reality. Let us not banish 
the remembrance of punishment, that we may escape punish- 
ment. If Dives had reflected on that fire, he would not have 
sinned, but because he was unmindful of it, he fell into it. ' The 
rich man also died, and he was buried in hell. ' 27 Let us then 
keep hell before our eyes. Let us often consider the strict ac- 
count we are to render at God's tribunal that, by thinking of 
those things, we may shun vice and choose virtue and may be 
able to obtain the blessings promised by the Lord to those that 
love Him, who is the exhaustless source and fountainhead of all 
goods, temporal and eternal. ' ' 28 

ssSuppl. p. iii, q. 98, art. 9. 26Apoc. xxi. 8. 

27 Luke xvi. 22. 28 Horn, iii, on 2 Thess. 



326 Hell, the Punitive Sanction 

458. To the question, "When does hell's penalty begin?" we 
thus answer: Abstracting for the present from the case of 
souls that depart from this world in grace, but are to be cleansed 
in purgatory, Catholic faith teaches us that human souls, im- 
mediately after death receive either the reward of heavenly 
glory or the punishment of reprobation, according to their 
merits or demerits. This is the truth proclaimed by the au- 
thority of Benedict XII in his Constitution of January 29, 1336 : 
"We define that, in accordance with the common divine ordi- 
nance, saintly souls immediately after death will be in heaven 
with Christ and the society of the angels, there possessing the 
beatific vision and life eternal. We moreover define that, accord- 
ing to the common divine ordinance, the souls of those that depart 
from this world in the state of actual, mortal sin, immediately 
after death descend into hell, to be tormented by the infernal 
pains. ' ' 29 The Council of Florence under Pope Eugenius IV 
defined the same article of faith. 30 

To this immediate punishment of the wicked are referred these 
two passages of Sacred Scripture: "They [sinners] spend their 
days in wealth [the enjoyment of good things] and in a moment 
they go down to hell. " 31 " For it is easy before God in the day 
of death to reward every one according to his ways. ' ' 32 " God 
said to him, [the sinner] : Thou fool, this night do they re- 
quire thy soul of thee, and whose shall those things be, which 
thou hast provided ? " 33 

This is also the general opinion of the Fathers, whose teach- 
ing is thus expressed by St. Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers in Gaul: 
' ' The wicked will, immediately after death, be plunged into the 
avenging Gehenna. ' ' 34 



CHAPTEE VII 

THE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS STATE OF CERTAIN 
TYPICAL CHARACTERS 

As a timely warning to all of us, I here submit the description 
of some typical characters of the negative or indifferent school. 
I refer to a certain class of men and women, unfortunately found 
in our midst, who spend their lifetime without giving any seri- 
ous thought to religion and the duties it imposes. They live 
entirely unconcerned regarding the account to be given to the 
Lord after death ; an ordeal, which, as St. Paul tells us, no mor- 
tal being can escape. "It is appointed unto men once to die, 
and after this the judgment. ' ' 1 

29 D. Enchiridion, pp. 216-217. 30 Ibid. p. 236. 

si Job xxi. 13. 32 Ecclus. xi. 28. 33 Luke xii. 20. 

s* Quoted by Mazzella, De Deo Creante, disp. vi. i Heb. ix. 27. 



As Divinely Revealed 327 

459. A. At the court of Louis XIV of France a lady of this 
stamp fell grievously ill, and the court chaplain was summoned 
to prepare her for a Christian, death. The zealous priest did 
all he could to induce her to make her confession, of which he 
knew from her friends, she stood sorely in need. But she per- 
sistently refused to accede to his exhortations. As the chaplain 
was about to leave the sick-room, the dying woman was heard 
saying to herself: "God will think twice before condemning 
to hell a woman of quality like myself." Whether such a plea 
was recognized at the great final assizes, it is not hard to guess. 
But what we know for certain, and no one can venture to deny, 
is that every one will be judged and dealt with according to his 
works, whether good or evil. Moreover, all are aware that vir- 
tue, holiness, God's grace, freedom from mortal sin, and good 
works are the only passports to heaven. 

Unhappily, similar characters are not wanting in our days. 
For instance, a so-called society lady dies. As we learn from 
the daily press, in her lifetime she was the leader at all social 
functions, balls, excursions, and parties, and she will be greatly 
missed on that account. As to her religious standing, she was 
so far advanced in scientific culture that Christianity did not 
appeal to her refined, superior mind and she became a Uni- 
tarian. She perhaps thought that her other qualifications 
might counterbalance her religious deficiencies. She obtained a 
decree of divorce from her first husband on account of his rustic, 
uncouth, incompatible temper ; and, reckless of the consequences 
and in defiance of God's law, she soon after married a well-to- 
do professional gentleman, likewise divorced, who shared with 
her the theory of complete indifference in matters of religion; 
hence all danger of quarrels on that critical topic was eliminated 
and they lived peacefully together, like two civilized pagans, 
amidst the brightness of the Gospel light shining in their midst. 
As we learn from the papers, she had been a leader in the smart 
set, and the winner of trophies at golf. She felt little or no sym- 
pathy for the poor, and when appealed to, systematically refused 
to succor them in their needs, on the plea that, as she thought, 
almsgiving does more harm than good, and is likely to foster lazi- 
ness and other vicious habits in the unworthy recipients. She, 
however, did not fail to show her generosity and compassion in 
other ways. She was a member — nay, a high officer — in a society 
for preventing cruelty to animals; and in her last will she be- 
queathed $20,000 for the erection and upkeep of a hospital for 
sick cats and dogs. Being a great reader, she subscribed to many 
journals and magazines, excluding, of course, from her premises 
all religious literature of any kind. She was proud of her li- 
brary, which contained elegantly bound, voluminous works of the 
renowned agnostic and materialistic writers of the day. The 
husband, being anxious to give to his departed wife some kind of 



328 Hell, the Punitive Sanction 

a religious funeral, in order to save appearances and prevent un- 
pleasant comments from ' ' bigots ' '—as he called religious people 
— applied to the Unitarian minister, as he knew that Unitarians 
can be called Christians only by courtesy. The minister deliv- 
ered, in the presence of several mourners and friends, a touching 
eulogy of the deceased society leader, which appeared in the city 
press of the next day. 

To moralize on the incident just described, we say that if 
such an individual had any belief in future judgment and of 
her own responsibility to God for her conduct, she would not, 
most likely, have repeated the aforementioned words of the 
woman of the court of Louis XIV. The press described the last 
rites, and concluded by stating that the departed society leader 
would be greatly missed by the members of the several women's 
clubs with which she had been associated from her youngest 
years. 

Will there be among my readers any society lady who would 
care to face God's judgment seat with such dispositions as those 
described in the above sketch ? Let us all recall here the ardent 
wish expressed by the holy prophet Moses, shortly before his 
death. Addressing his people, the Israelites, he said: "O that 
they would be wise, and would understand, and would provide 
for their last end. ' ' 2 

460. B. Unhappily, similar characters are even more fre- 
quently found among individuals of the stronger sex. When we 
think that on the moment of death hangs an eternity either of 
happiness or of woe, we cannot but pity and lament the more 
than supine indifference of those who, making no preparation 
whatever for the dreadful passage from time to eternity, talk 
glibly of taking their chances when plunging into what they call 
' ' the great unknown. ' ' What may be the private moral conduct 
of a man not only destitute of Christian faith, but actually hos- 
tile to it, God, who is to judge him, alone knows. When such 
an individual comes to die, his fellow-citizens are at once fully 
informed by the local press about his public career. He was a 
shrewd business man and succeeded in amassing a large fortune, 
which he left to his widow, as no children were born to them, 
for they both advocated the fashionable theory of birth-control, 
a euphemism for race-suicide. Attracted, no doubt, by financial 
motives and also, perhaps, by the gaudy uniform of the Shriners, 
the Knights of Pythias, and other masonic fraternities, which 
were all represented at his pompous funeral, he had joined them 
all at his early manhood and was held as one of the most effi- 
cient members of the craft. He also associated himself with the 
Bohemian Club, the rendezvous of the leading sports of the city. 
When the A. P. A. movement was at its height, he also joined 
in the fray and wrote in their organ a series of articles against 

2 Deut. xxxii. 29. 



As Divinely Revealed 329 

what he called the enemies of the American Commonwealth, the 
Irish people, the Catholic Church, and all foreign immigrants. 
But dark shadows soon obscured the worldly renown of his 
name. No sooner was his last will probated, which left to his 
widow the bulk of his large fortune, than unexpected claimants 
to a share in the rich inheritance arose in the persons of wives 
number one and number two, whom he had secretly married and 
then deserted. The fact naturally disconcerted wife number 
three, who feared lest a large portion of the wealth left to her 
should be allotted by the judge to the other rival consorts. The 
doings of the much-married man were aired in the court and 
naturally gave rise to comments on the moral — or rather im- 
moral — character of the deceased trigamist, who had succeeded 
in cheating the law by contracting successive unions without the 
formality of legal divorce, and the expenses annexed thereto. 

It is not for us poor mortals to enter into the secret judg- 
ments of God ; but one thing is sure, that no living man with a 
spark of Christian faith in his soul would be willing to appear 
before God's tribunal in the state of the individual described 
above. 

If these lines should fall under the eyes of some reader re- 
sembling the successful business man here referred to, let him 
take heed lest he put off repentance and reform until it is too 
late. "Watch ye, therefore," says Christ, "because you know 
not what hour your Lord will come. ' ' 3 



CHAPTER VIII 

PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS 

These reflections are here suggested with the purpose of arous- 
ing sinners from a state of apathy or indifference and helping 
them to realize the dangerous state of their soul and to bring 
them to timely repentance. 

461. Where are the unnumbered dead? Where are the mil- 
lions who have crimsoned the battlefields, the trenches, the 
fortresses, the watery deep, with their blood in the still raging 
disastrous European war ? How very busy death has been, par- 
ticularly in the last few years! How busy it still is mowing 
down its countless victims! It may be next to impossible to 
trace their burial-place or find the ashes of their cremated bodies. 
But what neither the bullet, saber, bayonet, cannon-ball or fire 
could destroy, still survives. I mean their immortal souls. 
That they still live and think and feel, we are as certain as we 
are of our own existence. But where are they? Are they 

3 Matt. xxiv. 42. 



330 Hell, the Punitive Sanction 

basking in the divine light and splendor of the beatific vision, 
enjoying a happiness utterly beyond all description? Or are 
they safe with God, yet still detained in the purgatorial prison 
to be purified and made worthy of the company of the blessed? 
Or have they passed from the sufferings of time to those of 
eternity? Every fairly instructed Catholic knows the only 
true answer to these three weighty questions, which completely 
respond to the several destinies that the Supreme Judge will 
allot to each human creature as it departs from this world and 
appears before the dread tribunal. 

1. Souls adorned with sanctifying grace, free from all debt 
of temporal penalty, are at once welcomed by the Redeemer of 
the world with the cheering words: "Well done, good and 
faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." x 

2. The souls unstained by any grievous offense but yet in need 
of purification in penance for sins not fully atoned for in the 
present life, are truly in a state of salvation, and they will sooner 
or later join the multitude of the elect. 

3. But alas ! How utterly lamentable is the present condition 
of such human souls as are poisoned and defiled by the canker 
of sin, and depart from this life unrepentant and unshriven! 
They cannot be reckoned amongst God's friends, for they re- 
jected His many offers for reconciliation even to their last dying 
breath. They have signed their own doom and freely, deliber- 
ately chosen rather to abide with Satan and the reprobates in 
hell, than to dwell with Christ and the blessed in the heavenly 
paradise. We have reason to believe that countless thousands of 
sinners were saved by the heroic zeal of the numerous military 
chaplains, assisted by most devoted Catholic and non-Catholic 
women, angels of mercy, ministering to the dying and wounded 
soldiers on the battlefield or in the hospital wards. But alas! 
How many officers and soldiers now counted among the dead 
must have rejected the priestly ministrations, and earnest, 
friendly exhortations to repentance, because their minds had 
been poisoned and corrupted by atheistic, antichristian litera- 
ture, utterly destructive of faith, the root of justification, with- 
out which it is impossible to please God. In the hour of death 
faith and moral certainty, at least, of possessing the truth, alone 
can give the strength we need. Of all religious systems Chris- 
tianity alone offers that faith and security that enable men to 
face the passage from time to eternity with tranquillity and 
peace. I mean historical Christianity, which is identical with 
the Catholic Church — that Church that alone possesses unity of 
faith, unity of worship, and* unity of government, the distinguish- 
ing marks of her divine- institution. 

Hence the miserable victims of unbelief, with souls black with 
many sins, blindly plunge into what they call "the great un- 
iMatt. xxv. 21. 



As Divinely Revealed 331 

known/' taking, as they are wont to say, their chances. Most 
of them had been cruelly deceived by their infidel teachers, who 
induced them to believe that death ends all, that hell is a chi- 
mera, a bugbear invented by crafty theologians, and that annihi- 
lation is the common lot of all human beings. What a terrible 
responsibility rests on all atheistic, antichristian writers! God 
is patient, because He is eternal. He awaits them on their depar- 
ture from this life. A punishment far severer than that in- 
flicted on their disciples attends them on the threshold of 
eternity. 2 

462. We find no language strong enough to denounce the civil 
rulers who in their choice and appointment of university pro- 
fessors, take more account of their known antagonism to religion 
than of their competence to teach. The result is simply disas- 
trous. The so-called professional graduates turned out year 
after year from these institutions, veritable hotbeds of atheism 
and loose moral principles, spread their infidel doctrines in the 
communities that avail themselves of their services. It is from 
such infamous teachers that spring the men, who, when called 
to arms in the defense of their country, boast of knowing noth- 
ing and caring nothing about the hereafter. They fight with 
a courage inspired by mere patriotic fanaticism, and, after 
death they realize — but too late, alas ! — the huge and fatal decep- 
tion of which they were the victims; a deception that caused 
them to miss forever the happiness of heaven and to incur the 
everlasting torments of hell. 

"The very anxiety of unbelievers in hell to shirk the conse- 
quences of rebelling against God's holy law shows that, in spite 
of all their efforts, the belief in God's avenging justice cannot 
be uprooted from the mind and heart of men. The ultimate test 
that reasoning men will set in the future is simply this: Did 
God reveal this dogma? Has the Church who teaches it been 
authorized so to teach? The affirmative answer to these perti- 
nent questions will continue to guide men of all races and na- 
tions for all ages to come, not the utterances of any fallible man 
even if he happens to be professor or president emeritus of Har- 
vard University. ' ' 3 

CHAPTER IX 

THE PUNITIVE SANCTION TAUGHT BY DIVINE 

REVELATION IS CONFIRMED BY 

HUMAN REASON 

As we have proved in a former chapter of this book, every ra- 
tional creature is bound to procure and proclaim the glory of its 

2 See Matt. xi. 21, 22, and Luke x. 13, 14. 

3 From "America" for Dec. 14, 1912, p. 224. 



332 Hell, the Punitive Sanction 

Master, whether it be an elect, a reprobate, a saved, or a lost 
soul. It is not in the power of man either to glorify God, his 
Creator, or to refuse to do so. All he can do is to choose in 
what manner he will glorify Him; either with the blessed by 
chanting His mercies forever x in heaven, or with the reprobates 
by proclaiming His justice for all eternity in hell. Behold the 
matter of our choice : I may choose, nay, I must choose either 
heaven or hell. The alternative is terrible and frightful beyond 
description. But God's glory will be equally secured whether 
man's future abode will be in heaven with the angels and the 
blessed, or in hell with the demons and the damned. 2 

Professor Thomas W. Galloway of the Department of Zoology 
at Beloit College said at the High School Teachers' Convention 
at the University of California, July 17, 1917: "The most 
urgent need of the human race is a moral equivalent for hell.'* 
He deprecated the materialistic scientists of modern times who 
have relegated hell to the scrap-heap of outworn creeds. It may 
be truly said that if there is no hell, there ought to be one. We 
might here apply Voltaire's saying: "If there were no God, 
we should invent one." 

463. Reason, when rightly consulted, proves not only the ex- 
istence of an infinitely perfect Being, God, but also His princi- 
pal attributes or perfections, such as sanctity, justice, and provi- 
dence — attributes and perfections which cannot be denied with- 
out falling into rank atheism. For an unholy, unjust, and im- 
provident God is no God at all. It is impossible to entertain 
of God any other idea or conception than that of a perfect Be- 
ing, possessing in an eminent degree all the endowments proper 
to human monarchs worthy of their lofty position. As a Ruler 
endowed with the highest wisdom, power, and justice, He must 
have provided rewards to the good, the observers of His laws ; and 
punishments to the wicked, their transgressors. As Bishop 
Vaughan rightly discourses in one of his sermons : * ' What are 
we compelled to witness in this world of ours? We behold 
brute force trampling over weakness, fraud and cunning crush- 
ing honesty and truth ; greed and ambition occupying the seats 
of honor and command in our midst. The early Christian mar- 
tyrs were torn to pieces and devoured by lions and tigers in the 
public amphitheaters to afford a spectacle to dissolute, heartless 
pagans. Noble confessors of Christ were racked, tortured, and 
done to death, not because guilty of any crime, but only because 
they preached His Gospel, and loved truth better than life it- 
self. Zealous missionaries, who left home and fatherland out of 
pure love for souls in distant heathen regions, received insult for 
their self-sacrifice and death as a reward for their heroism. ' ' 3 
Indeed, innocence and virtue are so sure of provoking enmity 

i Ps. lxxxviii. 2. 2 St. Thomas, p. i, q. 19, art. 6. 

s Commentary, vol. i. p. 312. 



As Divinely Revealed 333 

and opposition, that it has become a proverb among men: 
"Veritas odium parit" — " Truth begets hatred.' ' These facts 
prove how true is the inspired assurance recorded by St. Paul : 
"All that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. ' ' 4 

But here we may be asked : Is iniquity to triumph forever ? 
Are the holy and innocent to be forever trodden under foot? 
Are the swords and bayonets of antichristian, atheistic, masonic, 
socialistic governments to be forever bared to drive out of their 
homes defenseless religious men and women and guiltless bishops 
and priests? Shall the tide of flagrant tyranny never turn? 
Is there no justice in heaven ? 

We confidently reply : As sure as there is a God who governs 
the universe, justice shall certainly be done in the end. The 
wicked shall be punished and the just rewarded. Initial, quick 
justice is being done every day and every moment, even in the 
present life. Statistics of mortality prove that, under ordinary 
conditions, not less than ninety thousand human beings depart 
from this world every twenty-four hours. Before God 's tribunal 
every one, monarchs and subjects, rich and poor, learned and 
illiterate, old and young, shall be judged and receive sentence 
either of salvation or damnation, according to their works. The 
God-loving and God-fearing have nothing to fear from such an 
ordeal, for happiness shall be their reward. And what shall be 
the lot of the ungodly, the impure, the blasphemers, the perse- 
cutors of the servants of God? The lot which they themselves 
have chosen and richly deserved. It is, then, absolutely neces- 
sary to admit a just retribution in the world to come, when Al- 
mighty God, the Supreme Judge of mankind, will allot recom- 
pense to the just, and punishment to the wicked. 

464. If what we have stated and proved is not admitted, then 
this absurd consequence will follow, that God has made no pro- 
vision whatever for the maintenance of the moral order, for the 
justification and final triumph of the good, and the vindication 
of His honor and outraged dignity. If that were true, then we 
must confess that the very throne of the Omnipotent would be 
shaken from its very foundation. I see Him fall, alas! from 
His lofty throne, transformed into a puny idol, who possesses 
neither the wisdom nor the power to enforce the observance of 
His laws, and to secure from His creatures the submission and 
worship due to Him. I see in Him but a weak, helpless legisla- 
tor, incapable of making His will respected and of imposing on 
human passions a restraint which, without tampering with men's 
liberty, would be sufficient to deter all but the recklessly de- 
praved from the commission of sin. Nay, I see in Him the pro- 
moter and accomplice of human disorders and crimes; a Being 
that is indifferent to His own offenses and that has abandoned 
mankind to the conspiracies of the wicked. Do away with all 

* 2 Tim. iii. 12. 



334 Hell, the Punitive Sanction 

punitive sanction, with hell and its horrors, and all the conse- 
quences I have pointed out will logically follow — a fact that 
proves the absolute necessity of the punishment threatened to 
the wicked in the world to come, where alone full justice awaits 
them. 

What we have stated above is fully confirmed by a witness 
whose testimony must be true, because it originates from God 
Himself, and that is the voice of human conscience. Yes, this 
voice asserts and testifies, in the plainest terms, the existence of a 
Supreme Judge who will allot recompense to virtue and chas- 
tisement to crime in the world to come. 

The development of this argument will form the subject of the 
following chapter. 



CHAPTER X 

CONSCIENCE A WITNESS TO FUTURE 
RETRIBUTION 

Bishop Vaughan, in his excellent work, "Faith and Folly," 
furnishes to us the leading thoughts of the present demonstra- 
tion. 

465. Whence comes that marvelous witness, that silent rebuke 
to crime, whose presence in man's soul is as unmistakable as the 
faculties of seeing, hearing, and feeling? Why do we feel in- 
stinctively and irresistibly that certain acts and lines of conduct 
are essentially good and to be done, and that others are intrinsic- 
ally bad and to be shunned ? If our actions happen to be in any 
way contrary to God 's holy laws, no violence of passion, no greed 
of gain or lust of pleasure can disguise from us their true charac- 
ter or hide their deformity from our eyes. While the hand of 
the assassin is yet red with innocent blood, and the reckless brute 
in human form still thirsts for vengeance, conscience is even then 
condemning the perpetrated crime. The tiger devours the 
flesh of a human victim encountered in an African jungle, and 
then peacefully sleeps on its bones. A highwayman murders his 
fellow-man, where no trace can be detected of the foul deed, and 
yet he cannot shake off the memory of his guilt, and sees accusers 
starting up on every side. This is no empty imagination. The 
Sacred Scriptures assure us of the same thing. "There is no 
peace to the wicked, saith the Lord. " x " The wicked man fleeth, 
when no man pursueth. ' ' 2 How shall we account for such facts, 
as universal as they are true, except on the theory of man's reali- 
zation of the existence of an Omnipotent Ruler, a Supreme Judge, 
who in the world to come will do full justice both to the good 
and to the wicked; to the former by rewarding them for their 

i Is. xlviii. 22. 2 Prov. xxviii. 1. 



As Divinely Revealed 335 

virtues, to the latter by punishing them for their crimes. But 
conscience not merely distinguishes right from wrong, but more- 
over stings the rebellious with the anguish of bitter remorse. Re- 
morse is the accuser, the witness, and the judge whom God has 
placed in the heart of the criminal to make him understand that 
his crime has been seen, weighed, and condemned. Conscience 
is a judge which we cannot dislodge, control, or bribe. It is 
not to be browbeaten, and though man may oppose, resist it, and 
petulantly disregard its injunctions, it still continues to de- 
nounce and condemn his evil conduct. If there is no provision 
for a sure recompense to the observer of the divine law, and for 
an equally assured punishment to its transgressor, we are at a 
loss to account for the existence of any remorse at all. If crime 
need not fear the presence of an infallible, omnipotent Judge, 
remorse becomes nature's laughing-stock. Who will offer an 
intelligible explanation of this voice, so sweet in its approval, 
that some have thought — though wrongly — such approval to be 
a sufficient reward for well-doing ; and yet a voice so terrible in 
its condemnation that even death is often sought, and embraced 
as a less intolerable alternative? Hence, some criminals have 
surrendered themselves to the authorities, holding death by the 
public executioner more bearable than the stinging reproaches 
of an outraged conscience, which has justly been called the ever- 
present hell of living criminals. Now, how shall we account for 
the presence of this invisible, stern, inexorable judge, the hu- 
man conscience, unless we admit a future existence, where its 
unheeded warnings shall be avenged, crime punished and virtue 
recompensed ? I advisedly say, a future existence, for evidently 
it is not here that full justice is done to the good, as well as to 
the wicked, since we here often witness the misery and op- 
pression of the just and the prosperity and triumph of the 
wicked. 

466. If there be no future life, of what use is conscience? 
Why should man harken to a voice that speaks deceptively? 
Why fear threats that are idle and empty? Why should we 
mind laws if there be no punishment for the lawbreaker, no merit 
or reward for the law-keeper? Why should we regulate con- 
duct and restrain evil desires if there be no absolute measure of 
right and wrong, no final court of appeal for the downtrodden, no 
reward for virtue, and no punishment for sin? What becomes 
of justice, if one common fate awaits the murderers and the mur- 
dered, the robbers and the robbed, the brutal ravisher and the 
innocent ravished? If there be no future life, conscience is a 
fraud which we should get rid of, and the sooner the better. But 
if we cannot stifle the verdict of conscience without first steep- 
ing ourselves in villainy and crime, then it follows that conscience 
must be a trustworthy minister of God, its threats of future pun- 
ishment true and solemn warnings to evil-doers, and the future 



336 Hell, the Punitive Sanction 

triumph and happiness of the just, to which it points, a great 
and glorious reality. 

467. The value of the argument derived from the testimony 
of conscience cannot be exaggerated, for of all rational proofs 
of a future life and consequent retribution, the facts of con- 
science are the strongest and most convincing. Nothing else in 
the visible creation can bear such a witness to the existence of 
the supernatural and of man's accountability to an invisible, 
supreme lawgiver and judge. Conscience approves and disap- 
proves, justifies and condemns both single human acts and lines 
of conduct independently of their influence on society; that is, 
whether they are beneficial or hurtful to it from a utilitarian 
point of view. In fact, on a thousand practices which world- 
lings stigmatize as incontestably injurious to the race, conscience 
positively refuses to utter one syllable of condemnation, whilst, 
on the other hand, conscience brands as iniquitous many prac- 
tices useful and profitable, at least apparently, to the temporal 
prosperity of mankind from an exclusively utilitarian aspect. 

The truth is, that conscience asserts the existence of a higher 
law, the supreme standard of right and wrong, good and evil, 
virtue and vice. It defends and safeguards higher interests than 
those of time, and points in the clearest language to the omni- 
presence of a divine Legislator and to the sanction He placed on 
His laws to induce His rational creatures to their observance, 
and restrain them from their violation. In short, the voice of 
conscience speaks to every man's heart of the better life beyond 
the grave, throwing startling gleams of light into the now hid- 
den supernatural world which we are continually approaching, 
carried onward by the irresistible current of time. 

How shall we explain the imperiousness, or peremptoriness, 
as Newman calls it, of the voice of conscience? It is one of the 
best established facts, whose existence it is impossible to deny. 
Its voice, which can neither be stifled by debauchery nor silenced 
by rebukes, points to a future life which is a stern reality and 
not a dream — a reality that implies the soul's endless existence, 
man's accountability, the judgment day, heaven and hell. 

Criminals may succeed in evading the grasp of human justice, 
but they will inevitably fall into the mighty arm of the divine, 
when the unheeded warnings of guilty conscience shall be 
avenged. 

468. This is the dread tribunal which the infidel scientist 
Huxley tried to disprove when, in one of his lectures, he said: 
"We shall sooner or later arrive at a mechanical equivalent of 
consciousness, just as we have arrived at a mechanical equiva- 
lent of heat." 3 

Our reply to this antichristian scientist, who has since gone 
to his account, is as follows : Conscience is the practical knowl- 

s Lay Sermons. 



As Divinely Revealed 337 

edge of moral good and moral evil, which every man possesses 
within himself. It is an intellectual act that has nothing to do 
with merely sensitive faculties, and is no more amenable to ex- 
perimental tests than the concepts of right and wrong. In short, 
conscience is the voice of God Himself speaking to our hearts and 
telling us what He would have us do, and what He would have 
us leave undone. It bears an irresistible testimony to the exist- 
ing reality of future retribution, and intimates the necessity of 
both the remunerative and the punitive sanction of God's holy 
laws. 

469. To nullify the value of the testimony of conscience a new 
theory has been devised the underlying principle of which is this : 
' ' The morally good is that which is possessed of material utility ; 
and, on the contrary, that is morally bad which causes us material 
disadvantages/' This theory is radically wrong, for morality 
and utility are two separate things and need not be unavoidably 
associated. Hence the honest, upright man who is resolutely de- 
termined to act in accordance with the injunctions of the moral 
law, does not concern himself with the personal advantages or 
disadvantages resulting from such action, but he chiefly takes 
into account the fact that he must do certain things because they 
are in themselves good, and avoid others because they are essen- 
tially evil. I advisedly say chiefly, for the good accruing from 
doing what is right and the evil springing from doing what is 
wrong should be an impelling but not a chief motive of action. 
Admit utility as the ground of morality and it will be easy to 
justify theft, assassination, etc., and to open the way to un- 
bridled license, and sanction the perpetration of the most awful 
crimes. How often the observance of the moral law is found 
to be in direct opposition to our personal worldly interests, and 
demanding the bitterest sacrifices! It is, then, supremely im- 
portant to entertain correct ideas on the subject at issue. As 
sound ethics teaches us, conscience is the judgment passed by 
practical reason upon the moral worth of our actions; it is the 
application of the standard of the moral law to our thoughts, 
words, and acts; it is a divine voice moving us to that which 
we ought to do, and deterring us from that which we ought to 
leave undone. And though it may be subject to diverse influ- 
ences, yet, so far as first principles and their application are 
concerned, it is everywhere one and the same, which accounts 
for its divine origin, God Himself, unchangeable truth, and the 
supreme standard of all moral perfection. 

470. The foregoing considerations are fully confirmed by the 
testimonies of both ancient and modern writers, of whom we 
shall here cite a few: 

"What never-ending pains are the pangs of a guilty con- 
science, a mind overburdened with the recollections of perpe- 
trated evil deeds, and fearful of itself. ' ' 4 

* Seneca Epist. 163. 



338 Hell, the Punitive Sanction 

"A wicked conscience, even when it is successful in iniquity, 
is tormented with remorse, and the expectation of most dreadful 
punishments. ' ' 5 

"The furies pursue the criminals not with burning torches, 
as the poets feign, but with the tortures springing from the re- 
morse of a guilty conscience. ' ' 6 

"There is no witness so terrible, no accuser so powerful as 
conscience, which dwells in the breast of all men. ' ' 7 

"Great fear of divine vengeance falls upon the foes of peace 
and the scourges of mankind. ' ' 8 

"... Beneath the earth 
Great Hades holds his throne, the gloomy judge 

Of sinful men, and in his awful look, 
— The soul 's accusing conscience — reads its crimes. ' ' 9 

' * Sure there is none but fears a future state ; 

And when the most obdurate swear they do not, 
Their trembling hearts belie their boasting tongues. ' ' 10 

' ' Two things are awful to me, the vastness of the starry firma- 
ment, and the sense of responsibility in man. ' ' lx 



CHAPTER XI 

ANCIENT AND MODERN TESTIMONIES ON THE EX- 
ISTENCE AND JUSTICE OF PUNITIVE SANCTION 

ATTITUDE OP OLD SECTS TOWARD BELIEF IN FUTURE RETRIBUTION 

471. We advisedly speak here of "old sects/' for a full ac- 
count is given in Part X of the tenets held by the sects sprung 
from the "Reformation" of the sixteenth century and consecu- 
tively up to modern times, when the Evangelical Alliance was 
organized in England in 1846 and adopted in the United States 
in 1867. It is there shown that the leading Protestant denomi- 
nations are in full agreement with the Catholic Church on the 
Christian dogma of future everlasting rewards and punishments. 
Official, authentic documents are there alleged of such belief of 
the Lutherans, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Reformed Church, 
Baptists, and Methodists. 

Among the early sects are reckoned the Gnostics, Montanists, 
Novatians, Donatists, Arians, Manicheans, Macedonians, Pela- 

s Quintilian, De Inst. Orat., lib. xii. 6 Cicero, De Legibus, 1, 14. 
7Polybius, Hist., xviii, 26. 8 Homer, Odyss., xiv, 122. 

9 ^schylus, Eumenides, 263-265. io Dryden. 

ii Immanuel Kant, Ethics of Pure Reason. 



As Divinely Revealed 339 

gians and Semi-Pelagians, Eutychians, Monophysites, Mono- 
thelites, and Nestorians. The three last named are the only ones 
that are still dragging a lingering existence in the Orient; all 
the others are extinct, dead and buried. Now, these sects, all 
anathematized by the Catholic Church, have in their turn re- 
jected several articles of Christian faith; but they have all re- 
tained the dogma of future, endless retribution. Some of them 
rejected the temporary purgatory, but none of them denied the 
eternal hell. Yet it was a question of a truth that arouses the 
fury of the passions, sets all vices against it, and causes human 
nature, so greedy of carnal pleasures, to rebel against it. How 
can we explain this unanimity in spite of so many adverse cir- 
cumstances ? That dogma was so deeply rooted in the Christian 
conscience that not even the boldest heresiarchs dared to tamper 
with it. Here, as in other similar instances, it was the voice 
of human conscience compelled against itself to bear witness to 
that awful truth. 

Singularly consonant with what the Gospel teaches on the 
equity of the divine judgment are the traditions of the ancient 
Asiatic nations, who learned from primitive revelation and trans- 
mitted to their posterity the dogma of final retribution, which 
allotted eternal reward to the just and inflicted eternal punish- 
ment on the wicked. Thus, in a fragment of the Zend-Avesta 
of the Persians, the soul whose conscience is found at judgment 
adorned with good thoughts, words, and deeds, is admitted to a 
place of heavenly bliss, to the everlasting gates, the fair realm 
of uncreated light, the world that passes not away. And the 
wicked soul, judged first by her own conscience, is ushered be- 
fore the dread tribunal and condemned for her evil thoughts, 
words, and deeds to everlasting hell. She is punished also be- 
cause she closed her heart against the poor, and her life on earth 
was ever bent to ill. 1 

De Quatrefages tells us that the Phoenicians believed in recom- 
pense being granted to chosen souls beyond the grave. 

The belief of the Persians is contained in the Zend-Avesta, 
their sacred book, according to which, after death, the just are 
received by Ormuzd, the good deity, and the wicked are handed 
over to Ahrima, the evil god. 

The Druids admitted the truth of a future happy life, to de- 
serve which they had particularly to practise courage, the virtue 
dear to their forefathers. 

A. GREEK WRITERS 

472. Among the most illustrious philosophers and writers of 
antiquity, Plato (b. c. 428) holds the foremost place. Posterity 
shows its appreciation of the extraordinary talent of this man by 
designating him with the rare title of Plato the Divine. In sev- 

i The Month, October, 1885. 



340 Hell, the Punitive Sanction 

eral of his books, preserved to this day, in spite of the ravages of 
time, he takes delight in treating, in the form of dialogues, the 
all important topic of men's future existence and particularly 
of the lot that awaits them there, according to the deeds of their 
present life. 

Thus in his Phcedo he reckons three distinct classes of departed 
souls. To the first belong those that have led an upright life; 
they all receive their reward according to the merits of their 
good deeds, and are at once reckoned among the happy. In 
the second class or category are numbered those who committed 
what he calls remediable or curable sins — peccata sanabilia. 
These have repented of their evil-doing, and when delivered 
from prison they pass to the higher places. As to the third 
class, whom he designates as incorrigibles — insanabiles — on ac- 
count of the gravity of their crimes, they meet their fitting fate 
in Tartarus, whence they shall never come out. 2 

Can any Christian fail to see in these expressions of the 
Greek sage a plain intimation of heaven, purgatory, and hell, the 
three places allotted to human souls according to their deserts 
before the day of the last judgment 1 When we study the tradi- 
tions of antiquity and compare them with the teachings of the 
Church we find in them an additional proof of the harmony ex- 
isting between the dogmas of Christianity and the intuitions of 
the human mind. 

In the Gorgias he writes: "From the reign of Saturn this 
law concerning mankind has always prevailed, and is still in 
vigor with the gods, that whoever should have led a just and 
pious life, when dead, would pass to- the Island of the Blessed, 
and there enjoy the highest happiness, being free from all kinds 
of evil. But that, on the contrary, he who should have led a 
wicked and impious life, should go into the prison of vengeance 
and justice, which is called Tartarus. ' ' 3 

Plutarch (a. d. 50), the famous philosopher and historian, in 
his essay De Tarda Dei Vindicta — "The Tardy Vengeance of 
the Deity, ' ' argues thus : ' ' Reason proves both the existence of 
God's providence, and the immortality of men's souls. The 
Provident Deity has disposed that human souls should be im- 
mortal so that the just should have their reward and the wicked 
should not remain without punishment. ' ' 4 

Pythagoras (b. c. 584) enjoyed so great a reputation that 
more than six hundred disciples attended his night lectures on 
philosophy. Several able writers have exonerated him from the 
charge of teaching the doctrine of metempsychosis or transmi- 
gration of souls. According to the testimony of Cicero, 5 Di- 
onysius Laertius, and other historians and some poets, Pythag- 

2 Vol. i, n. 62, p. 89. Edition Firmin-Didot. 3 Patuzzi, p. 49. 

* Patuzzi, pp. 49-50. s De Senectute. 

e Hist., 1. viii. c. 21. 



As Divinely Revealed 341 

oras held and taught the divine origin and immortality of the 
human soul and the doctrine of retribution in the next life. The 
just are transferred to the Valley of Joy ; the wicked are plunged 
into a horrible place in punishment of their crimes. As to the 
just soul he expresses himself in this remarkable language: 
' ' The soul that has nobly conquered itself in the study and pur- 
suit of virtue and truth after death wings its flight to God and, 
being immortal, is transformed into the Deity as far as it is pos- 
sible to man." This beautiful thought naturally reminds us of 
the two following New Testament texts: "That by these 
[precious promises] you may be made partakers of the divine 
nature." 6 "We know that when He [God] shall appear, we 
shall be like to Him, because we shall see Him as He is. " 7 

Iamblicus (b. c. 325), one of the most renowned followers 
of the doctrines of Pythagoras, states the teaching of his master 
and of the Pythagorean philosophical school in this strik- 
ing way: "If death were to put an end to the existence 
of both the body and the soul, death would be to wicked 
men a great gain. But since the soul is seen to be immor- 
tal, it cannot escape from evils and be safe, unless it has been 
both very good and very wise. For the soul, when approach- 
ing the next life, can bring nothing along with itself except 
probity or iniquity, which we know will be to the departed the 
cause either of good or of evil. Hence the just soul, admitted to 
the blessed mansions of heaven, will dwell with God. But the 
one which stained itself by impious deeds will be condemned to 
the infernal regions, there to undergo the punishment it de- 
served. ' ' 8 

Homer (b. c. 1000 [ ?] ) bears witness to the truth we are dis- 
cussing. Professor William S. Tyler of Amherst says: "The 
paramount fundamental principle which Homer inculcates with 
regard to sin is, that it is sure to meet with merited punishment. ' ' 

"Give me, just Jove, to punish lawless lust, 
And lay the Trojan gasping in the dust ; 
Destroy the aggressor, aid my righteous cause 
Avenge the breach of hospitable laws. 
Let the example future times proclaim 
And guard from wrong fair friendship's holy name." 

—Iliad, iii. 351. 

Pindar (b. c. 522), the greatest lyric poet of classic Greece, is 
our next witness to future retribution. He thus proclaims the 
fate of the good in Elysium, and that of the wicked in Tartarus, 
the ancient term for the abode of the reprobates: "The good, 
enjoying eternal sunshine night and day, spend a life free from 

6 2 Peter i. 4. i 1 John iii. 2. 

sAdhort. ad Philosoph. lib. ii, c. 13; Patuzzi, pp. 72-73. 



342 Hell, the Punitive Sanction 

labor. As they took pleasure in keeping the plighted faith, they 
enjoy a tearless existence, while the impious have to endure woes 
too horrible to recall. ' ' 9 

Euripides (b. c. 481), the celebrated tragic poet of Athens, 
tells how vengeance overtakes the wicked: "Whoever thinks 
he can go on doing wrong without the knowledge of the gods, acts 
foolishly. He will be overtaken when vengeance finds leisure 
and steals silently and imperceptibly, striking the guilty; and 
he will then suffer for all his misdeeds. ' ' 10 

^Eschylus (b.c. 525), another distinguished Greek tragedian, 
speaks thus: "Death is no escape for the wicked from their 
sins, or the consequences of them. Their crimes will follow them 
into another world. In Hades there is a tribunal, which the 
wicked cannot evade, a faithful record of their lives and a just 
judge, who will certainly bring them to judgment and punish 
them according to their deeds. ' ' " 

Celsus (a. d. 220), as we learn from Origen, his victorious an- 
tagonist, was candid enough to make this avowal: "Christians 
think and believe that those who lead a holy life will be rewarded 
after death ; and that the impious will suffer eternal torments ; a 
belief common to all the nations of the world. ' ' 12 

Professor W. G. T. Shedd, in view of these testimonies to the 
innate sense of justice, remarks: "The righteous indignation 
into which the judicial part of the human soul is stirred by sin 
is the finite but homogenous expression of that anger against 
moral evil, which burns with an eternal intensity in the purity 
of the Divine Essence. ' ' 13 

B. TESTIMONIES OP LATIN AUTHORS 

473. Passing from Greece to Home we meet with similar 
thoughts and sentiments in her classic writers, both in poetry and 
prose. 

Lucretius Carus (b. c. 95), in his poem De Rerum Natura, ex- 
presses himself thus: "If men could pursuade themselves that 
at death there will be an end to all miseries, then they would in 
some way show their enmity to all religious beliefs, and their 
opposition to the threats of sages. But now they have neither 
reason nor power for so doing, for they must fear the eternal 
pains at death. Aetemas quoniam poenas in morte timen- 
dum." 1 * 

Horace (b. c. 65) writes: "Vengeance from Jupiter irritated 
by men's contempt of his laws, though with halting steps, seldom 
fails to overtake the criminals as they rush along in their ca- 
reer of wickedness. ' ' 15 

9 11 Olymp. 109. io Fragment attributed to him. 

n Agamemnon, line 1540. 12 Origen, Contra Celsum. 

isBibl. Sacra., vol. xvi. p. 731. 1* L. i, 109-112. 
is Od. ii. 2, 29. 



As Divinely Revealed 343 

Marcus Tullius Cicero (b.c. 106). It would be difficult to 
find among Roman authors, nay, among all the sages of antiquity, 
a man of greater learning and authority. Not less renowned 
as a philosopher than as an orator, he left numerous writings, 
in many of which he bears witness to the truth we are vindicat- 
ing. 

He thus speaks in the first of the Tusculan Disputations: 
"According to the two different lines of men's conduct, twofold 
will be the condition of the departed. For those that have pur- 
sued a career of wrongdoing are excluded from the company of 
the gods, for they contaminated themselves in lust and every kind 
of turpitude, blinded by which they defiled their homes, becom- 
ing guilty of vices and crimes. But those who have maintained 
themselves upright and pure are admitted to the abode of the 
gods." 

Like sentiments are found in his philosophical essay, the 
Somnium Scipionis, wherein he writes that Scipio constantly 
adhered to the teachings of Pythagoras concerning the immor- 
tality of men's souls and their future retribution of reward or 
of punishment. 16 

Here it is important to observe that though the writings of 
ancient authors are at times interspersed with expressions that 
savor of polytheism, yet this circumstance does not detract from 
the value of their testimonies on the question at issue, for they 
substantially reproduce, in their peculiar language, the true 
doctrine on future retribution, that is, on the existence of puni- 
tive sanction in the life to come, and they recognized as supreme 
one of their deities, as has been noticed with regard to ancient 
nations. 

THE ANCIENT GREEK AND LATIN POETS AS GUARDIANS 
OP MORAL TRUTHS 

474. Father Thebaud, cited elsewhere, devotes several pages 
of his work on Gentilism before Christianity to the develop- 
ment of this subject, showing that they embodied in their songs 
a number of moral maxims and sayings, eminently fitted to pro- 
mote and foster in men habits of honesty, virtue, and integrity. 
In Parts III and VII we cite quotations from them, which go 
far to prove that they reproduced in their poetic works a number 
of highly useful moral truths and principles, such as the exist- 
ence of a Superior Deity, its providence over mankind, man's 
responsibility to an invisible power, future retribution, etc. 

Fr. Patuzzi in his frequently quoted book De Futuro 
Impiorum Statu — "The Future State of the Wicked," reasons 
substantially thus: The authority of the ancient bards of 
Greece and Rome must be greatly appreciated, for they bear wit- 
ness to the belief of their people in the truth of eternal punish- 

16 Patuzzi, pp. 25, 26, 31, 54, 67, 68, 69. 



344 Hell, the Punitive Sanction 

ment. With poetic license they mix with their statements, it is 
true, fictitious and mythological narratives that afforded to Plato 
and Cicero some pretext for their criticism and disparagement of 
their poetic effusions. As Mr. Gladstone pertinently observes, 
the primitive brightness of the truths contained in their poems 
gradually grew dimmer and error became more and more preva- 
lent. It is, then, true to say that the further back in antiquity 
our researches extend, the more pure we find the belief of man- 
kind. The corruption here referred to was mainly due to the 
baneful influence of mythology and the introduction of magic in 
later ages. We may, then, answer the critics who belittle the 
authority of poets, by quoting the well-known saying: "Dis- 
tingue tempora et concorddbis jura nee non facta." — "Distin- 
guish the times and contradiction will vanish." 

C. TESTIMONIES OF MODERN WRITERS 

475. We use the term "modern" as distinguished from the 
"ancient" classics, and as embracing a comparatively extensive 
period, particularly from the Middle Ages to recent times. 

For obvious reasons we limit our quotations to the works of 
eminent writers that bear witness to the necessity and existence 
of retribution beyond the grave. Some of the authors, such as 
Dante, Milton, and others, whose testimony asserts not only the 
reality of future retribution, but also its everlasting duration, 
will be more appropriately cited in the next part of our work, 
which is particularly devoted to the question of the eternity of 
punitive sanction. 

Racine (a. d. 1639): "Athalie, what does the law of the 
Lord say to you? That God wished to be loved; that He 
avenges, sooner or later, His holy name when blasphemed; that 
He resisteth the proud and punishes the murderers." 17 

Voltaire (a. d. 1694). In a drama he introduces a heathen 
speaking thus: "The gods are witnesses of secret crimes. 
Learn from this that hidden misdeeds are seen by the gods. The 
more guilty are the great, and the heavier is their punishment. 
Kings, tremble on your throne, and fear their justice," 18 — a 
precious confession, though expressed in a pagan form, from the 
mouth of an inveterate antichristian blasphemer. 

Metastasio (a. d. 1698): St. Helena, as she witnesses the 
pagan desecration of Mount Calvary, is made to speak thus to 
the Lord: "I see well, O Heavenly Father, why Thy thunder- 
bolts do not hasten to destroy the impious. Thou art slow to 
punish either, that bad men may have time to repent or that the 
righteous may be made perfect through suffering." 

Here my clerical friends cannot fail to recall a parallel 
thought of the great Doctor, St. Augustine, in the fourth lesson 
in Ccena Domini: "Do not think that wicked men are allowed 

i7 Athalie, ii, 7. is Semiramis, v. 8. 



As Divinely Revealed 345 

to exist without Almighty God drawing any good from them. 
For every bad man is permitted to live, either that he may be 
converted; or that a virtuous man may be tried and sanctified 
by his malice. " 

476. If space permitted it, many more quotations could be 
alleged from eminent writers, both Catholic and non- Catholic. 
But we must hasten to discuss the most weighty and terrific 
character or quality of future retribution, that is, the eternity 
of its duration, which will form the subject of the following 
part of our book. Before proceeding to the next question, how- 
ever, we here insert a discussion that has a very important bear- 
ing on several of the preceding and following parts of this 
volume, as the reader will see for himself. 



CHAPTER XII 

PRIMITIVE TRADITION AND WHAT IT ACCOUNTS FOR 

477. It is asked: How are we to account for the universal 
belief of mankind in future retribution ; a belief held by peoples 
of various characters, habits, customs, and of different degrees of 
education and mental culture? 

We reply: 1. It is not the product of science or of study, for 
it is found to precede every philosophical reflection. Hence it 
has been rightly said that man was religious before being 
philosopher. It is for this reason that Tertullian, the great 
African apologist, said of the human soul that it is naturally 
Christian. 

2. It is not the invention of any religious sect, for this belief 
penetrates all religions, however disparate they may be among 
themselves. 

3. It cannot be attributed to disorderly human passions, for 
this creed antagonizes them all. 

4. Is it perchance the outcome of ignorance? No, by no 
means, for knowledge and learning only confirm it, as it is found 
more fully developed in the nations that are most civilized. 

Whence, then, does this belief in future retribution come? 
It springs from the primitive divine revelation, which, in many 
cases, is a most helpful reaffirmation of several moral principles 
and truths, which are accessible to human reason. As will be 
shown at greater length in this same seventh part, these primitive 
religious and moral truths were imparted by the Creator Him- 
self to our first progenitors, from whom they were handed down 
to all the future generations scattered throughout the globe. 

478. It is understood that we do not claim here any perfect 
agreement as to the precise nature of the rewards and punish- 
ments to be allotted by the Supreme Judge, or as to the degree 



346 Hell, the Punitive Sanction 

of guilt punishable by eternal pains; but we do contend that 
there existed among ancient peoples a substantially unanimous 
consent in admitting an endless happiness for the just and an 
eternal hell for the wicked. Among the nations of antiquity the 
most favored in this respect were, no doubt, the Israelites, who, 
besides possessing the Mosaic law, had also at hand the primitive 
divine revelation coming down from Adam, preserved in its in- 
tegrity through the testimony of the long-lived patriarchs. 

479. Primitive tradition, then, and the light of reason were 
no doubt the two sources and channels of religious truths and 
moral principles among ancient nations before the Christian era. 

Fr. Thebaud, in his work on Gentilism before Christianity, 
writes (p. 30) : " Among the truths which the nations on part- 
ing from one another carried to their new homes, are reckoned 
the unity of God, or monotheism ; the exalted state of primeval 
man during the golden age ; his fall, to be repaired by a future 
Redeemer ; the immortality of his soul ; and the belief in future 
retribution. ' ' 

The same author on p. 283 says: "God, full of love for man, 
gave him from the beginning a deposit of religious truths in 
order that the truths demonstrable by human reason might be 
more safely guarded and secured to mankind. ' ' 

We may appropriately recall here the teachings of St. Thomas 
in his Summa Theological 9 where he speaks as follows: "The 
help of divine revelation was needed because without it, God's 
knowledge, though accessible to human reason, could be attained 
only by few men after a long time, and with the admixture of 
many errors." 

We may certainly apply the same reasoning with regard to 
other highly important rational and moral truths within reach 
of human reason, such as the soul's immortality, man's accounta- 
bility to a superior power, and the existence of future endless 
retribution. In fact, the same holy Doctor lays this down as a 
well-established principle, that Almighty God, at all times, sup- 
plied men with the necessary instruction concerning matters of 
salvation. "Quolibet tempore instructi sunt homines divinitus 
de agendis secundum quod erat expediens ad salutem electo- 
rum." 20 Hence the primitive revelation of these same truths 
was the means adopted by God's merciful providence for the 
preservation of those truths in their fulness and integrity, till 
the dawn of Christian revelation, which proclaimed them in all 
their splendor. ' ' God who in sundry times and divers manners 
spoke in times past to the Fathers by the prophets, last of all in 
these days hath spoken to us by His Son." 21 

These two sources of knowledge, then, human reason and 
God's primeval revelation, are not only perfectly compatible with 
each other, but, moreover, they are mutually harmonized. 

is P. i, q. i, art. 1. 20 Quoted by Patuzzi. 21 Heb. i. 1, 2. 



As Divinely Revealed 347 

Whilst divine revelation confirms and ratifies the truths ascer- 
tainable by reason, reason, in its turn, ratifies and confirms the 
teachings of supernatural revelation whether accessible to human 
capacity or placed beyond its reach. 

As a fitting conclusion to this chapter we here adduce the 
testimony of the three German ethnologists, quoted in another 
part of our volume, who with untiring diligence investigated the 
belief of the human race of both ancient and modern times on 
the following fundamental truths, the existence of the Creator, 
the immortality of man's soul, and future retribution. They 
are Gustav Flugel, Joseph Knabenbauer, S.J., and Victor 
Cathrein, S.J. They all bear witness to the fact of the para- 
mount influence exercised by primitive tradition on preserving 
from error such rational and moral truths as could be known 
by the light of reason among ancient peoples and the uncultured 
tribes of comparatively modern times. 22 (See n. 519.) 

22 See Etudes Philosophiques sur le Christianisme — Primitive Revela- 
tion, vol. i, ch. v. 



PAET VII 
THE ETEENITY OF HELL 

CHAPTER I 

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS 

480. As has been shown in the preceding part, it is certainly 
conformable to right reason that after the probation of the pres- 
ent life, Divine Providence should allot to each of its rational 
creatures either reward or punishment, according to their de- 
serts. Thus the moral order shall be vindicated and restored, 
virtue shall be duly recompensed, and wrongdoing deservedly 
punished. When the question is asked, "What will be in de- 
tail the precise character, nature, quality, and duration of future 
retribution ? ' ' We must answer that human reason cannot decide 
such matters with any degree of certainty and must consequently 
derive such knowledge only from divine revelation. And this 
for the best of reasons, for such dispositions as concern man's 
destiny depend entirely on God's free will, and on the decrees 
of His providence in the government of mankind. That the 
Lord has made such a revelation is a historical fact which it is 
impossible to deny. By consulting its oracles we are en- 
abled to give precise details of both the remunerative and the 
punitive sanction of God's laws. As it appears from its head- 
ing, the question to be discussed in this part of our work is the 
duration of the punitive sanction, of the punishment of the 
wicked in hell, a question which, like the ones referred to above, 
is to be decided exclusively from the data of divine revelation. 
Such data or testimonies of Holy Scripture will be duly alleged 
in the following chapter, and strikingly confirmed in the sub- 
sequent ones. 

481. As Father Lessius observes, fully to grasp the perfect 
justice of eternal punishment we should be able to understand 
thoroughly both the infinite majesty of God and the gravity of 
mortal sin, the divine offense by which His infinite dignity is 
outraged, insulted and despised. 

482. Richard Baxter says on this point: "Alas! we are both 
blind and partial. You can never fully know the deserts of sin, 
till you know fully the evil of sin, and you can never know the 
evil of sin, till you fully know : 

1. The excellence of the soul, which it deformeth ; 

349 



350 Eternal Punishment 

2. The excellence of holiness, which it does obliterate; 

3. The justice and excellence of the law, which it violates ; 

4. The excellence of heavenly glory, which it does despise; - 

5. The excellence and office of reason, which it treadeth on. 

6. No, till you know the infinite excellency, almightiness, and 
holiness of God, against whom sin is committed. ' ' 2 

As considerable light is thrown on this somewhat dark sub- 
ject by God's own word in Holy Writ, the voice of Christian 
tradition, the sentiments of both the Greek and the Latin Fa- 
thers, the reasonings of theologians, and the judgment of notable 
non-Catholic writers, we will avail ourselves of all those sources 
of knowledge to render more and more intelligible the truth of 
the endless punishment of the wicked. 

Both the just and the reprobates know that their respective 
lot is eternal. St. Thomas, treating of this very question, says 
that there is no hope for the lost, for they are sure that they 
shall never be delivered from the eternal pains. 2 Hence the cer- 
tainty that their damnation is to be everlasting constitutes for 
the wicked their greatest affliction. 

483. Among the characters or qualities of the infernal pains 
there is surely none as terrible and dreadful in the eyes of all 
believers as their everlasting duration. This awful feature of 
hell's dungeon is so frequently proclaimed in Holy Writ and 
the constant tradition of the past that it seems impossible for any 
man to entertain any doubt about it. But alas ! what appeared 
impossible, says the holy Doctor St. Basil, 3 has actually oc- 
curred through the artifices of Satan, the sworn enemy of the 
human race, as St. Ignatius calls him. 

Reliable writers, such as J. Godfrey Raupert in his "Modern 
Spiritism" (p. 239), testify that at some spiritualistic sittings, 
when a supposed departed soul was asked by one of the audi- 
ence if hell really existed and was eternal the answer was an 
emphatic negative, accompanied by peals of laughter meant, of 
course, to ridicule the very idea of any belief in hell and its 
eternity. It is well known that the answers to this and similar 
questions proposed in those spiritualistic seances are given, not 
by the souls of the departed, but by demons, the fallen angels. 

484. In this matter we are quite safe and orthodox in adher- 
ing to the authority of Catholic theologians, who speak on this 
subject with notable unanimity and justify their teaching by 
citing the doctrinal decisions of the Roman congregations. 
Father Lehmkuhl, S. J., a living author of high standing, speaks 
substantially as follows : 4 There can be no question that in the 
so-called spiritistic seances or meetings a very great deal that 
happens is due to fraud or trickery on the part either of the me- 
dium or of the responsible person in charge. But good evidence 

i Quoted by the Rev. William Reid in his Everlasting Punishment, p. 196. 
2 2a 2ae, qu. xviii, art. 3. a R e g. Brev. * Theol. Moral, vol. i. p. 225. 



Divinely Revealed 351 

also exists that manifestations occur, which can only be explained 
by the intervention of forces, that transcend what is natural in 
man, that is to say, by diabolical agency. For utterances, which 
are not only trivial but also directed against the true Faith, and 
against Christian piety, cannot proceed from God, or from any 
good spirit, or from the blessed in heaven. Hence we can only 
attribute them to evil and damned spirits. And since the souls 
of men that are lost, neither of their own power, nor by per- 
mission of Divine Providence do, ordinarily speaking, hold in- 
tercourse with persons still living on earth, 5 no alternative 
remains but to attribute them to diabolical intervention. The 
golden, just mean must here be followed by avoiding, on one 
hand, the extreme of excessive incredulity, and, on the other, 
the extreme of excessive credulity. 

According to a recent decision of the Supreme Congregation 
of the Holy Office, issued April 24, 1917, it is not lawful to be 
present at the experimentings held in spiritistic meetings, what- 
ever may be the intention of the person assisting. 6 

In our days many deluded creatures, either misrepresenting 
the Divine Scriptures or rejecting their authority altogether, do 
not hesitate to deny the truth of hell 's endless torments, or even 
its very existence. There is a class of people, particularly Uni- 
tarians, who, when asked what they think of the Christian dogma 
of eternal punishment, will answer that "such a belief has, no 
doubt, its advantages from a moral point of view, inasmuch as it 
exercises a wholesome restraint upon the passions of the unedu- 
cated classes ; but, in the presence of modern culture and refine- 
ment, the need of this deterrent vanishes. ' ' 

There must, then, exist for this privileged class of humanity, 
usually the "higher up" of society, some other kind of Gospel 
quite different from that of Christ, though it is well known that, 
on one occasion, at the conclusion of His sermon, He said: 
"What I say to you, I say to all, watch." 7 As wealthy people 
have at hand abundant means for the full gratification of their 
passions and caprices, it would seem that to keep them within 
bounds, they need no other help or restraint but cultivated, re- 
fined, cultured minds. "Credat Judceus Apella!" 8 — "Let gul- 
lible people believe it ! " 

Besides the Unitarians, the principal modern adversaries are 
the Universalists, the Socinians, the advocates of what they call 
voluntary immortality and of annihilation ; the Agnostics ; many 
Protestants of our own times ; and the unbelievers of the past two 
centuries. As their arguments form the stock in trade of nearly 
all the difficulties against eternal punishment, we shall endeavor 
to do full justice to all our opponents in the two following parts 

s Luke xvi. 26. 

s See St. Thomas, In II Sent., Dist. vii, q. 3, art. 1, ad 2; la q. 89, art. 8, 
ad 2. 7 Mark xiii. 37. 8 Horace, Sat. 1, 5, 100. 



352 Eternal Punishment 

of our work, which will be wholly devoted to the solution of the 
objections raised from different quarters against the truth of our 
thesis. 

After these preliminary notions we at once proceed to the 
statement of the first and chief proof, that of Holy Scripture. 

For brevity 's sake we shall quote in full only one or two texts 
from such inspired books as refer to the eternal duration of the 
infernal pains, and cite chapter and verse of other passages of 
the same sacred writers, which the reader may easily consult. 

485. Attentive readers will not fail to notice that all the Scrip- 
tural texts to be adduced conspire to demonstrate the same truth, 
though in different ways. 

1. Thus, the eternity of torments is asserted by texts that ex- 
plicitly describe them as everlasting. They speak of the eternal 
fire, eternal ignominy, eternal perdition, and the everlasting 
chains of the reprobates, demons and men. 

2. Some texts demonstrate the eternity of hell's torments by 
plainly denying their termination or end. 

3. Other texts testify that both the reward of the just and the 
punishment of the wicked are to last forever. 

4. The eternity of hell 's sufferings is proved by the Scriptural 
testimonies which deny to the reprobates all hope of future lib- 
eration or forgiveness. 

5. Lastly, the everlasting duration of future chastisement is 
clearly established by those passages of Holy Writ which deny 
to the bad angels, the demons and to the damned human crea- 
tures all hope of liberation, as intimated by the sentence of the 
Supreme Judge: "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting 
fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels. " 9 

We may say that there is no truth laid down in God's sacred 
record more evident than the dogma we are now dealing with. 
In fact, as has been noticed by Biblical scholars, there is scarcely 
a passage in the inspired writings, particularly in the New Testa- 
ment, where mention is made of hell, in which its eternity is not 
also proclaimed. Mr. Maurice, one of our opponents, admits 
' ' that there is very much more about eternal punishment in the 
Gospel than in the Mosaic law. ' ' 10 

486. As it happens with other words, the term " eternal" and 
its equivalents employed in Holy Scripture have either an ex- 
tended or a restricted meaning, according to the things and be- 
ings to which they are applied. Thus, when attributed to God's 
life, they signify a duration without beginning, without succes- 
sion, and without end. When spoken of human institutions or of 
some events, referring to things known (aliunde) from other evi- 
dences to be of a transitory order, those terms imply a lapse of 
time more or less prolonged. When they are predicated of 
spirits or souls naturally indestructible and of things affecting 

9 Matt. xxv. 41. iQReid, p. 131. 



Divinely Revealed 353 

them as such, they mean a duration that shall have no end. It 
is in this last sense that we must take the sentence either of 
eternal reprobation, or of eternal salvation pronounced on every 
human soul, as it appears before God's tribunal and confirmed 
at the last judgment. In fact, the sentence of condemnation 
uttered by the Supreme Judge, "And these [the wicked] shall 
go into everlasting punishment, ' ' is equivalent to the expression : 
"They shall be punished everlastingly," that is, as long as they 
shall last, i. e., forever, since they are immortal. How can a 
punishment be called everlasting unless the punished last ever- 
lastingly? For the doctrine of St. Augustine on this point see 
Enchiridion Patristicum, p. 654. n. 1779, and p. 659, n. 1802. 
A like reasoning may be applied to the sentence of salvation, 
"But the just shall go into life everlasting." The just shall 
possess that life, so long as they shall live, that is, forever, for 
they are immortal : hence it shall truly be for them an everlasting 
life. 

CHAPTER II 

SCRIPTURAL TESTIMONIES ON THE ETERNITY 
OF HELL 

A. OLD TESTAMENT 

487. "The Lord Almighty will take revenge on them [the 
wicked], in the day of judgment He will visit them. For He 
will give fire and worms into their flesh, that they may burn and 
may feel forever. ' ' 1 

"A land of misery, and darkness, where the shadow of death, 
and no order, but everlasting horror dwelleth. ' ' 2 

The following commentators, SS. Jerome, Augustine, Gregory 
the Great, Basil the Great, and Thomas Aquinas, unanimously 
interpret the two above passages as descriptive of the infernal 
regions. 3 

See Job xx. 18. For its interpretation see Knoll, Theologia 
Dogmatica, vol. vi. p. 853. 

"And they [the wicked] shall fall after this without honor, 
and be a reproach among the dead forever. ' ' 4 

1 ' Which of you can dwell with devouring fire ? . . . Which of 
you shall dwell with everlasting burnings ? " 5 

"And many of those, that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall 
awake; some unto life everlasting, and others unto reproach to 
see it always. ' ' 6 

B. NEW TESTAMENT 



The Lord in His infinite wisdom was not satisfied to have 
i Judith xvi. 20, 21. 2 Job x. 22. 

3Migne, Cursus Scripturae, vol. xiii. p. 919. * Wis. iv. 19. 

s Is. xxxiii, 14; lxvi. 24. 6 Daniel xii. 2. 



354 Eternal Punishment 

this great truth announced to mankind by His prophets only. 
He wished that this everlasting penal sanction of His law should 
be again promulgated to the human race by no less an authority 
than that of His Divine Son. Let us then hear the Incarnate 
Word Himself proclaiming to human creatures the eternal dura- 
tion of the punishment awaiting impenitent sinners in the in- 
fernal prison. His sayings concerning future punishment form 
a prominent feature of His teaching. No son of thunder among 
His apostles has so emphasized the gloomy fact, or established it 
in such dread description of unalterable suffering. Hence the 
doctrine of the New Testament regarding that awful truth can be 
adequately determined in every essential point from the words 
of Christ Himself. According to His explicit proclamation, fu- 
ture punishment, as decreed by Divine Justice, does away with 
all theories of universal restoration, of extinction of being, and 
of temporary duration. 

As we read the Gospel record we find that in all that Jesus 
says there is not a trace of speculation or conjecture, nothing 
but the inflow of an imperturbable conviction. He spoke as one 
having authority, as the multitudes acknowledged. He did not 
argue or dispute. To Him man's destiny to survive the dissolu- 
tion of the grave is an axiom ; not a question to be debated, but 
a fact to be believed and accepted with joy. What some men 
had ventured to suggest as a daring surmise, a glowing hope, a 
glorious possibility, Jesus set forth as a clear, incontrovertible 
truth. In short, He carried the proofs of His utterances in Him- 
self, in His unique personality, the magnetism that attracted 
thousands to hear Him. And He employed the same clear, un- 
mistakable language when He spoke of the everlasting punish- 
ment reserved to impenitent sinners. No description of prophets 
or apostles or of any inspired writers can compare with that 
which issued from the mouth of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of 
the Living God. 

We specially commend the following sentences of Jesus Christ 
to the serious attention of Universalists and to the modern 
Origenists : 

' - One jot or one tittle shall not pass of the law till all be ful- 
filled." 7 

"Heaven and earth shall pass ; but My words shall not pass." 8 

"And these [the wicked] shall go into everlasting punishment, 
but the just, into life everlasting. ' ' 9 

"And if thy hand scandalize thee, cut it off: it is better for 
thee to enter into life, maimed, than having two hands to go into 
hell, into unquenchable fire, where their worm dieth not and the 
fire is not extinguished. And if thy foot scandalize thee, cut 
it off : it is better for thee to enter lame into life everlasting than 

7 Matt. v. 18. s Matt. xxiv. 35; Apoc. xxii. 18, 19 

9 Matt. xxv. 46; see also Matt. iii. 12. 



Divinely Revealed 355 

having two feet to be cast into the hell of unquenchable fire: 
where their worm dieth not and the fire is not extinguished. 
And if thy eye scandalize thee, pluck it out : it is better for thee 
with one eye to enter into the kingdom of God than having two 
eyes to be cast into the hell of fire : where their worm dieth not, 
and the fire is not extinguished. ' ' 10 

' ' The chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire. ' ' " 

' ' He that believeth in the Son hath life everlasting ; but he that 
believeth not the Son, shall not see life; but the wrath of God 
abideth on him. ' ' 12 

Cornelius a Lapide, the famous Biblical commentator, ex- 
pounding the preceding text, says : ' ' God 's anger shall torment 
the guilty unbeliever forever in hell, ' ' and confirms his interpre- 
tation by the authority of two early fathers. Euthimius and 
Cyril of Alexandria. 

What the Divine Master taught on the endless duration of fu- 
ture retribution His apostles and disciples faithfully repeated to 
the primitive Christians. To render these salutary doctrinal 
warnings permanently beneficial to all future generations, Di- 
vine Providence disposed that they should be consigned to the 
Sacred Record and preserved in their full integrity even to the 
end of time, the consummation of the world. 

"In a flame of fire giving vengeance to them who know not 
God, and who obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
Who shall suffer eternal punishment. ' ' 13 

"Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own confusion; 
wandering stars, to whom the storm of darkness is reserved for- 
ever." 14 

The holy Apostle here intimates the eternal chastisement 
threatened to the Simonians, Nicolaites, Gnostics, the heresiarchs 
of his time. 

' ' And the smoke of their torments shall ascend up forever and 
ever ; neither have they rest day nor night. ' ' 15 

"And the false prophet shall be tormented day and night for- 
ever and ever. ' ' 16 

"The fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable, and mur- 
derers and whoremongers, and sorcerers and idolaters and all 
liars, they shall have their portion in the pool burning with fire 
and brimstone, which is the second death. ' ' 17 For explanation 
of second death see Apocalypse xix. 3. 

Of these three last texts our adversaries, the Universalists, 
have said that they are too obscure. We must say, on the con- 
trary, that they are rather too plain, hence their shrinking from 
them. 

489. The following is indeed a remarkable admission on the 

io Mark ix. 42-47; Is. lxvi. 24. n Luke iii. 17. 

12 John iii. 36. is 2 Thess. i. 8, 9. " Jude i. 13. 

isApoc. xiv. 11. isApoc. xx. 10. i7Apoc. xxi. 8. 



356 Eternal Punishment 

part of the advocates of a second trial after death on behalf of 
poor, unfortunate sinners who have failed in the first of the pres- 
ent life. They frankly confess that not a single passage can be 
cited from either the Old or the New Testament which even hints 
at a continued or second probation after death. This is the 
candid admission of an American writer : ' ' I have long searched 
with anxious solicitude for a text in the Bible which would even 
seem to favor the idea of a future probation. I cannot find 
it." 18 

Here we must observe that numerous testimonies exactly con- 
trary to the upholders of future probations are found in the 
Bible, from which we quote the following : 

1. " To-day if you shall hear His voice harden not your 
hearts." 19 

2. ''Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to 
you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. ' ' 20 

3. "Behold now is the acceptable time; behold now is the day 
of salvation. ' ' 21 

4. ' ' Whilst we have time, let us work good. ' ' 22 

5. "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation." 23 

6. "To-day if you shall hear His voice, harden not your 
hearts." 24 

7. "The devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, 
knowing that he hath but a short time." 25 

An irrefutable proof of hell's eternity can be drawn from the 
declaration of Christ regarding His traitor. He said of Judas 
Iscariot : ' ' Woe to that man by whom the Son of man shall be 
betrayed: it were better for him, if that man had not been 
born." 26 

490. No Christian will dare attribute to the words of Christ, 
especially on so awful a theme, a mere rhetorical or dramatic 
force. And yet if those words really mean what they clearly 
convey, they are decisive of the question before us, that is, of the 
absolute exclusion of any future restoration or liberation of the 
lost. But if, according to the modern Origenists, and the up- 
holders of general restorationism, Judas is to be delivered from 
hell, and admitted to heavenly bliss, it would be simply untrue 
to say that it were better for him never to have been born. Even 
were ages of woe his allotment, yet if an eternity of happiness 
is finally to succeed the long sufferings, it would be good for 
him to have been born. If Christ spoke the truth — and to say 
the contrary is sheer blasphemy — His words prove that the 
traitor disciple is indeed the son of perdition condemned to ever- 
lasting woe. And for a like reason it may be truly said of 
every reprobate that it were better if he had not been born. 

is H. N. Oxenham, Catholic Eschatology and Universalism, p. 1 15 — note. 

19 Ps. xeiv. 8. 20 Luke xiii. 24. 21 2 Cor. vi. 2 ; Is. xlix. 8. 

22 Gal. vi. 10. 23Heb. ii. 3. 24 Heb. iv. 7. 

25 Apoc. xii. 12. 26 Matt. xxvi. 24. 



Divinely Revealed 357 

CHAPTER III 

THE ETERNITY OF HELL ACCORDING TO THE DOG- 
MATIC DECREES OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND 
HER CREEDS OR SYMBOLS OF FAITH 



WHAT CHURCH CAN INTERPRET, WITHOUT FEAR OF ERROR, THE 
TRUTHS OF DIVINE REVELATION? 

491. As to the terms "eternal," "everlasting," "endless," 
"forever and ever," applied in Holy Writ to the sufferings of 
the wicked, whether they really mean a duration without end, or 
something else, as certain people insinuate, is a point which only 
a divinely authorized, infallible teacher can finally decide with- 
out fear of error or deception. The determination of this ques- 
tion, in other words, an authentic decision, is so intimately bound 
up with the entire teaching of divine revelation that it cannot be 
withheld without throwing doubt on the utility of revelation it- 
self. It is plain that Divine Providence must have furnished a 
teacher fully competent to safeguard the belief of mankind on the 
momentous truths which the Lord condescended to reveal to 
men for their guidance to the attainment of their last happy end. 
That in the Christian dispensation, the Catholic Church and she 
alone is the divinely authorized teacher of men, a teacher en- 
dowed with doctrinal infallibility, is a truth abundantly demon- 
strated by Catholic apologists, some of whose chief arguments 
we have already cited. (See nn. 245, 246, 247.) 

In the Catholic Church, therefore, we find infallibility in 
teaching and divine authority in commanding ; hence her preser- 
vation from error in the interpretation of God 's word, and in her 
official function as guide of mankind in the attainment of their 
last end, eternal salvation. 

492. A church that is confessedly fallible can have no claim 
to be a spiritual society divinely appointed to enable men to 
reach their end. This shows the huge illusion of our separated 
brethren, who place their belief and trust in a church that dis- 
claims all power to teach them Christian truth. Such a church, 
openly professing its incapacity and inability to teach the truth, 
has no power to bind men's intelligences, and to exact both ex- 
terior and interior assent to its teachings. Therefore the re- 
formed church, considered as a teacher, is a nonentity, and has 
practically no reality except as one of the many secular bodies 
forming part of civil society, governed by reason alone, well or 
ill applied by political rulers, as the case may be. 

493. Such church bodies felt the necessity of leaning on the 
secular powers for their well-being and protection, as it is seen 



358 Eternal Punishment 

in the established Church of England, the Lutheran Church of 
Germany, and the schismatic Church of Russia. Rebellion from 
Rome made them the slaves of civil governments. What would 
become of such churches if the support of the secular arm were 
to be withdrawn from them can easily be anticipated. The 
sects deprived of government support have only their own 
merits and mutilated creeds to stand upon. Deprived of divine 
assistance — for God cannot countenance error and rebellion — 
and abandoned by political rulers, they will sooner or later meet 
with total disruption, for truth alone can survive the ravages 
of time. American Protestant sects, offshoots, most of them, of 
the Anglican Church of England, or of the Lutheran and Pres- 
byterian Church of Germany, Scotland and Switzerland, have 
long ago shaken off the yoke of slavish allegiance to secular 
powers and thereby asserted their independence in spiritual 
affairs, a step certainly in the right direction. To cite one ex- 
ample out of many, the Protestant Episcopal Church in the 
United States, in its revision of the thirty-nine articles of the 
Church of England in 1801, on reaching Article xxxvii, which 
granted to her gracious majesty, Queen Elizabeth, full, inde- 
pendent authority in the realm both ecclesiastical and civil, did 
away with that pretentious usurpation of church right and sub- 
stituted the following reading, which is in perfect harmony with 
the doctrine of the Catholic Church on the authority of civil gov- 
ernments : 

' ' Article xxxvii : Of the Power of Civil Magistrates. 

"The power of the Civil Magistrate extendeth to all men, as 
well clergy as laity, in all things temporal; but hath no au- 
thority in things purely spiritual." 

In this country for the mandate of Parliament the voice of the 
laity has, in large measure, been substituted, as was shown in 
the Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, held in St. 
Louis, Missouri, in October, 1916. On this occasion the so-called 
House of Bishops was subjected to a very humiliating scene, 
when the lay vote completely overrode the will of the clergy, 
even regarding something so sacred as a sacrament of the 
Church of Christ. When several years ago the laity were, for 
the first time, admitted to take part in the deliberations of the 
episcopal body, Pusey said that the Protestant Episcopal 
Church of America had, by that act, sounded the death-knell of 
its spiritual independence from secular interference, and abdi- 
cated the right to govern itself in church matters. 



Divinely Revealed 359 



CHAPTER IV 

THE ATHANASIAN CREED AND PONTIFICAL 
DEFINITIONS 

To ascertain the belief of the Catholic Church on the duration 
of future punishment, we have but to recall her authorized offi- 
cial teaching as contained in her symbols of faith, the utterances 
of her Supreme Pontiffs and the dogmatic definitions of her 
General or Ecumenical Councils. 

A. A SYMBOL OF FAITH 

494. In the Quicumque or Athanasian Creed, attributed by a 
recent church historian, Henry Brewer, to St. Ambrose, and in- 
serted from the earliest times in the liturgy of both the Oriental 
and the Western Church, we read the following profession of 
faith : 

''Those who shall have done good things shall go into life 
eternal, but those who shall have done evil things into eternal 
fire." 1 

B. PONTIFICAL DEFINITIONS 

495. In the formula of faith of Pope Damasus, (a. d. 366) 
framed against the Priscillian heretics, is contained the follow- 
ing article: 

"Christ, Our Lord, will bestow life eternal as the reward of 
meritorious deeds, and inflict an everlasting penalty in punish- 
ment of sin. ' ' 2 

The next Papal document is the sanction given by Pope 
Vigilius (a. d. 540) to an Oriental Synod, which issued the fol- 
lowing anathema against Origen and his adherents : 

"If any one says or believes that the punishment of demons 
and impious men is only temporary, and that it will some time 
come to an end ; or that there will be their restoration and redin- 
tegration, let him be anathema. ' ' 3 

As to these and other individual Papal utterances accepted 
by the bishops, priests, and their flocks, the faithful, as infallible, 
it is well to recall here the Decree of the Vatican Council (a. d. 
1870) which fully justifies such belief in the Pope's infallibility 
prevailing in the Universal Church from the apostolic times even 
to our days. 

"The Koman Pontiff, when he speaks ex-cathedra, that is, 
when in the exercise of his office as pastor and teacher of all 
Christians, he defines, in virtue of his supreme apostolic au- 
thority a doctrine of faith or morals to be held by the whole 

i D. Enchiridion, pp. 18, 19. 2 Ibid. p. 14. s ibid. p. 89. 



360 Eternal Punishment 

Church, is, by reason of the divine assistance promised to him in 
the person of Blessed Peter, endowed with that infallibility, 
which the Divine Redeemer wished that His Church should pos- 
sess in denning a doctrine concerning faith or morals; and that 
consequently such definitions of the Roman Pontiff are in them- 
selves ex sese, irreformable, and not by reason of the consent of 
the Church." 4 

496. May we conclude from this statement that Ecumenical 
Councils become unnecessary and practically useless as func- 
tional teaching bodies in the Church, since the Pope is invested 
with divine authority for the pronouncement of infallible de- 
cisions on all questions of faith and morals ? 

As Father D. Palmieri informs us, such consequence cannot 
be admitted for the following reason : 5 The Roman Pontiff is 
infallible, not on account of any divine inspiration or revela- 
tion regarding the doctrinal or moral points to be defined, but 
because of the special divine assistance promised to him as suc- 
cessor to St. Peter and Vicar of Christ; an assistance, however, 
that does not exclude the employment of human means, such 
as the study of the traditional belief of the Church on the mat- 
ters to be discussed and defined. For this and other reasons 
alleged by theologians, the convening of general or Ecumenical 
Councils may, at times, be not only useful, but necessary. 

The belief contained in the creeds and Pontifical documents 
is likewise found in the manuals of Christian Doctrine sanc- 
tioned by either Papal or episcopal authority, such as catechisms 
or other approved records of Catholic teachings. 

It is well known that no book contaminated by heretical doc- 
trines can escape the vigilant eye of the Church and evade con- 
demnation ; a fact which admirably contributes to the preserva- 
tion of the Faith from all erroneous theories. 

For this and other reasons the teaching of the Catholic Church 
on the existence of future punishment and its everlasting dura- 
tion has been uniform and constant from the times of the 
Apostles to our own days, and shall remain unchanged even to 
the crack of doom, the last judgment. 

For Christ's promise to His apostles and their legitimate suc- 
cessors must be fully verified, for He said: 

"I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your ad- 
versaries shall not be able to resist and gainsay. ' ' 6 

* Ibid. p. 490. 5 De Romano Pontifice, pp. 598, 666. 6 Luke xxi. 15. 



Divinely Revealed 361 

CHAPTER V 

ECUMENICAL COUNCILS 

497. The term " ecumenical' ' means "world-wide"; hence, 
such a Council is one summoned and gathered from the entire 
Church and enjoying, with its Head, the Pope, supreme authority 
over the Universal Church. Ecumenical or General Councils, 
therefore, are those, to which the bishops and other prelates en- 
titled to vote are convoked from the whole world under the 
presidency of the Supreme Pontiff personally, or of his legates 
or representatives. The decrees of such an assembly, as an or- 
gan of infallible teaching, when sanctioned by Papal authority, 
are binding on all the members of the Catholic Church. Twenty 
Ecumenical Councils have been celebrated in Christendom from 
the first held in the year 325, to the last, assembled in the year 
1870, which has been prorogued. 

498. For a Council to be ecumenical, and revered as legiti- 
mate, possessing therefore a binding force in all its dogmatic de- 
crees, and disciplinary prescriptions, the following five condi- 
tions are required, according to the teaching of approved 
canonists : 

I. It must be convoked by the supreme authority of the 
Church, that of the Sovereign Roman Pontiff held as legitimate 
successor of St. Peter. The summoning of a General Council 
is an act of supreme power or jurisdiction, exercised on all the 
bishops of the Church. Such a power is the exclusive preroga- 
tive of the Pope as Head of the Church, successor of St. Peter 
and Vicar of Jesus Christ. 

If a Council was not summoned by the Roman Pontiff, but 
by local patriarchs, metropolitans, synods of bishops or by civil 
rulers it may be ranked as general or ecumenical if its decrees 
are ultimately approved by the Pope. 

Such was the case with the Synod held at Constantinople in 
the year 381. It was summoned by Theodosius the Great and 
attended by the four Eastern patriarchs of Constantinople, Alex- 
andria, Antioch, and Jerusalem; and by many metropolitans 
and bishops of the Eastern Church. 

Its decrees, approved by the Roman Pontiff Damasus were also 
received in the Western Church. 1 

II. All the bishops, though not as yet consecrated, must be 
officially called to attend such an assembly, although not all 
need be present. But all the bishops must obey the summons un- 
less legitimately excused, and none can be excluded except by ex- 
communication. Cardinals have the right to be called, though 
not bishops. 

i See Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. iv. pp. 424, 425. 



362 Eternal Punishment 

III. The Roman Pontiff himself, or, in his absence, his legates 
or representatives, must preside over the Council's delibera- 
tions, with the right of occupying the first place, of prescribing 
the order to be observed in the transactions, of controlling all 
disorderly conduct, and with the right of precedence in all offi- 
cial signatures. This condition, however, is not absolutely re- 
quired, so long as the decrees issued in the absence of Pontifical 
representation are ultimately sanctioned by the Pope. Such 
was the case with the First Council of Constantinople held 
a. d. 381. 

IV. Perfect freedom must be allowed to the assembled bishops 
and prelates to express their views on the matters discussed. 

V. The deliberations, definitions, or canons of the Council, 
even when presided over by Roman legates, must be confirmed 
and sanctioned by the Roman Pontiff; without his assent and 
approval they neither possess the privilege of infallibility nor 
have any binding force on the members of the Church. Though 
the bishops alone, on account of their episcopal character, pos- 
sess the inherent right of sitting in the Councils as judges with 
the power of deliberating and voting on the matters discussed, 
yet the Sovereign Pontiff may communicate to non-episcopal 
prelates the needed jurisdiction for taking part in the discussions 
and deliberations of the conciliar assemblies. Theologians and 
canonists that may be called have only the consultive or advisory 
vote. 

The Fourth Lateran Council under Pope Innocent III (a. d. 
1215), issued the following definition as an article of Catholic 
faith : 

"All men shall rise with their own bodies, which they have 
here in life, to receive either good or evil things, according to 
their works, either everlasting glory with Christ or eternal pun- 
ishment with the devil. ' ' 2 



CHAPTER VI 

THE DOCTRINE OF THE EASTERN OR ORIENTAL 

SCHISMATIC CHURCHES ON THE DURATION OF 

FUTURE PUNISHMENT 

499. As indicated by the heading, we do not treat in this chap- 
ter of the belief on the matter at issue of the United Eastern 
Church. This Church, though having a particular liturgy and 
some special disciplinary customs, constitutes a part of the Latin 
or Roman Catholic Church, being in communion with the center 
of unity and jurisdiction, the Roman See. On this account, its 
bishops, the clergy, and their flocks, hold and profess the Catho- 

2 D. Enchiridion, p. 189. 



Divinely Revealed 363 

lie Faith on all doctrinal points, and consequently also on the 
dogmatic truth of the eternal reward of the just, and the eternal 
punishment of the wicked. 

Hence our discussion is here limited to the Eastern Schismatic 
Churches, whose belief on the duration of infernal pains we are 
about to investigate. 

500. The Oriental Schismatic Church may be thus divided : 
First, into the Church of the Russian Empire, now a republic. 
Secondly, into that which is comprised within the Turkish do- 
main. 

Thirdly, into the Church of the Kingdom of Greece. 

Though there exist other portions of Schismatic Churches 
under different civil rulers, yet the principal divisions are the 
three that we have mentioned. 

501. It is sometimes asserted that the Catholic doctrine on the 
future state differs essentially from that of the Eastern Schis- 
matic Church. But it is gratifying to know that, as to the ex- 
istence and duration of the punishment of the wicked, the teach- 
ing of the Schismatic Churches is in complete agreement with 
that of the Latin Catholic Church. 

This is shown in what is called the Orthodox Confession of 
the Eastern Church adopted for all Russian Schismatic subjects 
and approved by the four Eastern patriarchs of Constantinople, 
Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. It became in fact the au- 
thorized official creed of the entire Greek and Russian Churches. 
This document was sanctioned, in three successive Synods held 
in the years 1642, 1643 and 1672. 

In this confession, to the question, "What is to be thought of 
those who die at enmity with God?" the following answer is 
given : ' ' Some will be chastised with heavier, some with lighter 
punishments, but all forever, according to the Scripture. ' ' x 
Moreover, the Orthodox Catechism, placed in the hands of the 
faithful, answering the question as to the locality of those souls, 
which depart from their bodies at enmity with God, speaks thus : 
"This place is designated as hell, into which the devil was thrust, 
eternal fire and exterior darkness." 

Another more recent document is ' ' The Full Catechism of the 
Orthodox Eastern Church," drawn up by Philaret, the Metro- 
politan of Moscow, approved by the so-called Holy Governing 
Synod, and published for the use of schools, and of all Ortho- 
dox Christians by order of the Czar in 1839. It also received 
the unanimous approval of the four Eastern patriarchs men- 
tioned above, and must therefore be taken as an authoritative 
standard of the belief of the whole Gragco-Russian Church of 
our times. 

Question 383 is expressed in these terms: 

"What will be the lot of unbelievers and transgressors?" 

i Luke xii. 47, 48. 



364 Eternal Punishment 

"They will be &iven over to everlasting death, that is to ever- 
lasting fire with the devils." Then follow references to Apoc. 
xx. 14, 15; Matt. xxv. 41, 46, and Mark ix. 42, 47. 

502. The preceding and the following statements of the Faith 
of the Eastern Schismatic Church, are taken from the "Creeds 
of Christendom" by Prof. Philip Schaff, New York, 1877: 

"As the devils are condemned to eternal punishment, there- 
fore they will never become partakers of divine grace and 
mercy." 2 (Matt. xxv. 41.) 

"On the judgment day each one will receive his everlasting 
retribution according to his merits or demerits." The wicked 
will hear that most sad sentence: "Depart from Me, you 
cursed, into everlasting fire." 3 (Matt. xxv. 34, 41; Mark ix. 
42, 47.) 

' * What is to be believed of those who die in sin ? ' ' 

"They will all be tormented by eternal pains, more or less, 
according to the degree of their guilt." 4 (Luke xii. 47, 48.) 

' ' The bodies of the wicked will be immortal, for they are con- 
demned to endure eternal pains. ' ' 5 

As Cardinal Newman pertinently observes, "this consent be- 
tween Rome and the Schismatic Church is a stronger proof of 
doctrine than any other, for it is a consent maintained through 
ages in spite of division and antagonism in the communions main- 
taining it. " 6 

For further details on this subject see "Catholic Eschatology 
and Universalism, " by Henry N. Oxenham, to whose learned 
work we are indebted for many thoughts and valuable sugges- 
tions. 

CHAPTEE VII 

THE TESTIMONIES OF THE GREEK AND LATIN 

FATHERS ON THE ETERNITY OF HELL AND ITS 

TORMENTS 

A. PRELIMINARY NOTIONS 

503. By "Fathers of the Church" are understood those ec- 
clesiastical writers of old, who, on account of their learning and 
holiness have been recognized and revered as men of great au- 
thority in the interpretation, exposition, and defense of God's 
word, as registered in Holy Scripture or contained in apostolic 
traditions. Those only are reckoned as Fathers of the Church 
in whom the following four conditions are verified. 

1. Antiquity. That is, living within a period enclosed be- 
tween the apostolic age and the generally admitted termination 

2 Orthodox Confession, vol. ii. p. 299. 3 Ibid. pp. 338-339. 

4lbid. p. 342. s Ibid. p. 396. ^ Via Media, vol. i. p. 50, note. 



Divinely Revealed 365 

of the patristic epoch about the year 636, for the West, and the 
year 754, for the East. According to this view of Church his- 
torians and canonists, St. Isidore of Seville is held as the last 
of the Latin, and St. John Damascene as the last of the Greek 
Fathers. 

2. Ecclesiastical learning and orthodox doctrine. This con- 
dition evidently excludes heterodox, heretical writers, whose 
authority is therefore limited to their testimony to such truths 
as are admitted by the Church. To this latter category belong 
Tertullian and Origen, who, notwithstanding some of their erro- 
neous doctrines, may be sometimes opportunely quoted as wit- 
nesses of apostolic traditions. 

3. Holiness of life. This condition is absolutely required, 
for those only may be rightly revered as Fathers of the Church, 
who promote and foster the spiritual life of the faithful, both 
by their writings and their examples. 

4. Approbation of Mother Church. This approbation she 
grants either implicitly, or explicitly to such as are commonly 
recognized as reliable witnesses to the divine traditions, and au- 
thoritative exponents of her doctrines. Among the ecclesiastical 
writers some have been honored by the Church with the title of 
Doctor on account of their eminent learning and sanctity of life. 
For the conferring of such dignity the condition of antiquity 
is not required, as the Church may at all times bestow it on such 
of her sons as are celebrated for piety and sacred knowledge. 

504. What value, then, should we set on the testimony of such 
distinguished men? Our answer is that the agreement or con- 
sensus of the Fathers of the Church on matters of faith and 
morals furnishes complete certainty and commands assent, be- 
cause they as a body, bear witness to the belief and teaching of 
the infallible Church, whom they practically represent. Here 
we must, however, observe that such an agreement or consensus 
need not be absolute, as a moral unity suffices to make it au- 
thoritative. Thus, in some cases, whilst a large majority of the 
Fathers may bear witness to a doctrine as divinely revealed, 
others either may not clearly express their view, or as it fre- 
quently happens, they may not professedly treat of it in their 
writings, though they do not advance any proposition positively 
opposed to some given point of doctrine. 

Hence, theologians unanimously assert that he who rejects the 
common testimony of the Holy Fathers on any dogmatic or 
moral question, rejects by that fact the authority of the Uni- 
versal Church herself, for their morally unanimous testimony 
forms an incontestable proof of her doctrinal belief and teach- 
ing handed down by tradition, of which they are most reliable 
channels and witnesses. 1 

It is hardly necessary to remark that the testimony of one or 

i See Vatican Council Const, de Fide. D. Enchiridion, p. 415. 



366 Eternal Punishment 

a few Fathers that happens to be opposed to that of the majority 
of them, does not, by any means, justify us in preferring it to 
the authority of the latter. For this reason, on the question of 
the future state of children dying without baptism, we set aside, 
salva reverentia, the rigid opinion especially of St. Fulgentius. 
For a fuller development of these preliminary notions see 
"Manual of Patrology," by Rev. Bernard Schmid, 0. S. B., 
whose views we have here condensed. See also "Patrology, the 
Lives and Works of the Fathers of the Church," by Otto Bar- 
denhewer, D.D., translated from the Second German Edition 
by Right Rev. Thomas J. Shahan, D.D., Rector of the Catholic 
University. 

B. QUOTATIONS PROM THE WRITINGS OF THE FATHERS 

505. As we did previously, to economize space and time, we 
shall reproduce in full only the principal passages bearing on 
our subject, and refer to other passages by simple citations of 
other works of the same writer. 

Ours are all bona-fide quotations, which may be verified by 
resorting to their sources, which are as follows : 

a. The Migne Collections of Latin and Greek Fathers. 

b. "What is of Faith as to Everlasting Punishment, in reply 
to Dr. Farrar's challenge in his 'Eternal Hope,' " by the Rev. 
E. R. Pusey, D.D. 

c. "The Faith of Catholics," new edition by the late Msgr. 
Capel. 

d. "Enchiridion Patristicum," Auctore M. J. Rouet de Jour- 
nel, S. J. From this last very valuable collection we have taken 
a number of quotations cited there on p. 870, n. 594, under the 
caption : ' ' The Torments of the Damned are Eternal. ' T 

1. St. Clement of Rome, Pope and Martyr (d. 107) : 

" If we do the will of Christ, we shall find rest ; but if otherwise 
we should disobey His commandments, then nothing shall de- 
liver us from eternal punishment, ' ' 2 

2. St. Ignatius Martyr, bishop of Antioch, disciple of St. 
John the Evangelist (d. 107) : 

"Err not, my brethren, those defiled by evil teachings and 
evil doings will go into the unquenchable fire. ' ' 3 

3. St. Justin, Philosopher and Martyr (d. 163) : 

"We Christians believe that all who live wickedly, and do 
not repent, will be punished in eternal fire. ' ' 4 

4. St. Polycarp, Martyr, Bishop of Smyrna (d. 169) : 

In answer to the Roman Proconsul's threat that he should be 
burned, he said: "With fire which burns for a short time, and 
then is extinguished, thou dost threaten me; but dost thou not 

2 Homily, Epist. ad Corinth, x, n. 7, p. 383. Lightfoot. 

s Epist. ad Ephesios, n. 16. * Apolog. xxi. 17, and i, 8, 28. 



Divinely Revealed 367 

know of the fire of the future judgment, and of the eternal 
punishment reserved to the ungodly?" 5 (See n. 515.) 

5. St. Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch (d. 186) : 

"To those who by patient continuance in well-doing seek im- 
mortality, the Lord will give life everlasting, joy, peace, rest, and 
abundance of good things, which neither eye hath seen, nor ear 
heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive. 
But to the unbelievers and despisers, who obey not the truth, 
when they shall have been filled with adulteries and fornications, 
there shall be anger and wrath, and, at the last, everlasting fire 
shall possess such men. ' ' 6 

6. St. Irenseus, Bishop of Lyons in Gaul (d. 202) : 

"That eternal fire is prepared for those who should trans- 
gress, both the Lord openly affirmed in the Gospel and the other 
Scriptures prove." 7 

506. 7. Origen, eminent Biblical scholar (d. 230) : 

We shall, further on (Part IX), speak at some length of this 
remarkable man, and of his deplorable errors regarding the 
condition of the lost in the future world. We, however, quote 
him here as a witness to the dogma of hell's eternity, because 
some of his biographers hold that in some parts of his voluminous 
writings Origen asserted and defended the orthodox doctrine 
concerning the eternal duration of both the happiness of the 
blessed, and the torments of the wicked. 

I here quote one of such orthodox passages taken from the 
Enchiridion Patristicum, page 188: 

"When the soul shall have departed from this world, it will 
receive what it has merited, that is, the inheritance of eternal 
life and beatitude, if its actions deserved it. Or it will be con- 
signed to eternal fire and torments, if the guilt of its crimes 
caused it to merit such punishment." 

8. St. Hippolytus, Bishop and Martyr (d. 235) : 

"By Christ's judicial decision to those who have done well, 
shall be righteously assigned eternal bliss; and to the lovers of 
iniquity shall be given eternal punishment. And the fire, which 
is unquenchable, and without end, awaits these latter. Both 
men and angels and demons, shall utter one voice, saying: 
' Righteous is Thy judgment. ' " 8 

9. St. Cyprian,' Bishop of Carthage and Martyr (d. 258) : 
Referring to the contrast between the brief trials of time and 

the endless sufferings of eternity, he writes: "Having before 
my eyes the fear of God and eternal punishment in unquench- 
able fire, more than the fear of man and brief suffering. ' ' 9 

We cannot omit this additional striking passage penned by the 
same intrepid Bishop and Martyr : 

5 Acts of the Martyrs, by Kuinart. Epist. ad Philipp., ii, 3. 

6 Ad Autolycum, i, 14. Edinburg translation. 
7Adversus Haereses ii, 28, p. 1790, Oxford Edition. 

sBibl. Patrum, ii, 451. 9 Epist. viii, n. 2, Oxford Translation. 



368 Eternal Punishment 

"The ever-burning Gehenna, and the pain caused by the de- 
vouring names, will torment the lost ; neither shall there be any 
respite or end. The souls and their bodies will permanently en- 
dure and suffer intense pains. Then all repentance will be 
fruitless, and useless all lamentation and supplication. Those 
that refuse to believe in eternal life will believe, when too late, in 
eternal punishment. " 10 

10. St. Methodius, Bishop of Olympus and Martyr (d. 303) : 
He introduces Susanna saying to the elders, her tempters : lx 

"It is much better for me to die than betray to you adulterers 
the bed of my husband, and to suffer eternal punishment from 
the fiery wrath of God." 12 

11. Lactantius, Christian Apologist (d. 312) : 

"If the soul, which has its origin from God, gains the mastery, 
it lives in perpetual light. If, on the other hand, the body shall 
overpower the soul, and subject it to its dominion, it will be in 
everlasting darkness and death. And the force of this is not that 
it altogether annihilates the souls of the unrighteous, but that 
it subjects them to everlasting punishment. We term that pun- 
ishment the second death, which is itself also perpetual, as also 
is immortality. We thus define the second death. It is the suf- 
fering of eternal pains; or, it is the condemnation of souls for 
their deserts to eternal punishments. ' ' 13 

This testimony alone suffices to demolish the annihilation 
theory, based on the false interpretation of Apocalypse, ch. xxi, 
8. "Which is the second death." 

An appropriate remark on this point is found in Part IX. 

12. St. Athanasius, Archbishop of Alexandria (d. 372) : 
After describing the true believers in Christ and the Pharisa- 
ical hypocrites, he concludes: "According to the words of Our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the wicked shall go into ever- 
lasting punishment, and the righteous into life eternal. ' y 14 

13. St. Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers in Gaul (d. 367) : 
"The Lord will appoint the portion of the wicked man with 

the hypocrites in an eternity of punishment. An eternity of 
the body is destined for the heathen too, so that there shall be in 
them eternal matter for the eternal fire, and in all their being 
[that is, in both soul and body] everlasting punishment shall be 
put in force. ' ' 

Such is the comment of this illustrious writer on the text of 
Job: "He [the wicked man] shall be punished for all that he 
did, and yet shall not be consumed. ' ' 15 

14. St. Ephraem, renowned and voluminous Syrian writer 
(d. 378) : 

io Ad Demetriaimm. See Enchiridion Patr. pp. 232-233. 

ii Dan. xiii. 23. 12 Orat. xi, Bibl. Patrum, iii, 702. 

13 Divinarmn Institntionum, lib. ii, n. 13. 

14 Matt. xxv. 46. Epist. iv. ad Serap. 

is Job xx. 18; St. Hilary in Matt. c. xxv, n. 2, and ch. v, n. 12. 



Divinely Revealed 369 

"The fire, which is unquenchable, not consuming what it de- 
voureth, was not appointed to consume but to cause suffering 
and agony and this forever, as it is written. ' ' 16 

15. St. Zeno, eighth Bishop of Verona, Italy (d. 383) : 
"Now we ought to know that the just are destined to perpetual 

life, and the ungodly to eternal punishment." 17 

16. St. Basil the Great, Bishop and Doctor (d. 379) : 
"Perhaps more fearful than the darkness and the eternal fire 

is that shame which sinners will have as their companion in 
eternity, as a dye which cannot be washed out, abiding forever in 
the memory of their souls. There is no liberation from these 
things after death, nor any device or means of escaping the 
quenchless fire of that bitter prison. ' ' 18 

17. St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan and Doctor (d. 396) : 
Addressing a stubborn, impenitent Manichean he says: 

"Since thou thinkest that thou wert created by the devil, hasten 
then to his abode, where is the fire and sulphur; where his con- 
flagration is not extinguished, lest his punishment should ever 
end." 19 

18. St. Jerome, Priest and Doctor (d. 420) : 

He emphasizes Our Lord's words: "These [the wicked] shall 
go into everlasting punishment, but the just into life everlast- 
ing." "Observe that the punishment of the wicked is eternal 
and that the perpetual life of the blessed has no fear thereafter 
of being destroyed. ' ' 20 He thus brands the error of Origen on 
the final deliverance of the demons and the reprobates from hell. 
"Let us cast this heresy from our minds; and let us remember 
that sinners in the Gospel are thrown into everlasting fire, 
prepared for the devil and his angels; for it is written: 
'Their worm shall not die and their fire shall not be extin- 
guished.' " 21 

19. Rufinus, Priest of Aquileia (d. 410) : 

"The bodies, which shall rise from the dead, will be incor- 
ruptible and immortal, not those of the just only, but also those 
of sinners. Of the just, that they may abide forever with 
Christ ; of sinners that, without perishing, they may undergo the 
penalty due to them. ' ' 22 

507. 20. St. John Chrysostom, Patriarch of Constantinople 
and Doctor (d. 398) : 

His teaching on the eternal duration of future punishment 
is so full, and so frequently and earnestly repeated that no 
other Father or writer of the Church can compare with him in 
this respect. But we must confine ourselves to the two following 
quotations : 

"Grievous punishments await the workers of iniquity; even 

is Serm. Exeget in Script. i? Lib. ii, Tract, xxi. 

is In Psalm xxxiii. et Epist. 46. i» De Fide, ii. 13, p. 119. 

20 Comment in Mat. xxv. 46. 21 On Jonas iii. 22 De Symb., n. 45. 



370 Eternal Punishment 

a pool of fire, a worm that dieth not, darkness interminable, and 

endless tortures. ' ' 23 

In another Homily he thus addresses his hearers : 

"I know I am paining you by speaking of hell. But what 

can I do ? I must speak of hell to save you from falling into it. 

The exaggerated view of God's mercy, to the disparagement of 

His justice, is the devil's language. The denial of hell is Satan's 

reasoning to draw men into it. ' ' 24 

21. St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo in Africa and Doctor 
(d. 396) : 

As we learn from his writings, St. Augustine undertook the 
task of proving the eternity of hell both from Holy Scripture 
and tradition. He also counteracted the view that all Chris- 
tians, at least, can be practically certain of their final salvation, 
even if they lead bad lives. He held that eternal punishment 
would overtake every one who did not depart this life in the 
friendship of God. The orthodox teaching of both the Eastern 
and the Western Fathers stemmed the tide of Origenistic specu- 
lations, so that the whole eschatology remained where Augus- 
tine had left it. And as he left it, so do we find it to-day. Next 
to St. John Chrysostom, no other Latin or Greek Father spoke 
so often and so forcibly as this most eminent Doctor on the dogma 
of everlasting retribution. ''There are indeed different degrees 
of punishment among the lost, as of glory among the saved ; but 
next to the eternity of punishment, perpetual separation from 
God is by far the greatest torment." 25 

22. Victor of Antioch (d. 402) : 

Commenting on Mark ix. 47; "and the fire is not extin- 
guished," he writes: "As the fire which burns sinners is else- 
where called ' eternal, ' 26 so it is here called ' quenchless. ' " He 
held distinctly that by the undying worm is meant the ceaseless 
remorse of conscience afflicting the reprobates. 

23. St. Isidore of Pelusium, Abbot (d. 412) : 

"If you neither long for the everlasting life with Christ, nor 
dread the judgment of the eternal flame, you either vie in con- 
tempt with the demons, or are irrational men, destitute of any 
sense of fear. ' ' 27 

24. St. Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria and Doctor (d. 412) : 
After speaking of the many helps of divine grace placed within 

the sinners' reach for their conversion, he reminds them of the 
consequences of their obstinacy: "They will be numbered 
among those of whom the Scripture says: 'Their worm shall 
not die, neither shall their fire be quenched.' " 28 

25. St. Maximus, Bishop of Turin (d. 422) : 
Expounding St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews (vi. 4, 5, 6), he 

23 Homily xi, on 1 Cor 24 Homily xii, ad Ephesios. 

25 T)e Civitate Dei, passim. 26 Matt. xxv. 41. 

27 Epistol, 223. 28 Comm. on St. John. 



Divinely Revealed 371 

No one falls more grievously than he who having 
heard the word of God turns to sins, on account of which eternal 
punishments are prepared. ' ' 29 

26. Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrus in Syria (d. 458) : 
''Immortal is the fruition of the just and the punishment of 

sinners. " 30 

27. St. Peter Chrysologus, Bishop of Ravenna (d. 433) : 

' ' We believe in eternal life, because after the resurrection there 
is no end either of good for the blessed or of ill for the repro- 
bates." 31 

28. St. Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor (d. 440) : 

"The just shall be separated from the unjust, the innocent 
from the guilty. By the condemnation of the Almighty Judge 
the wicked shall be sent into the fire prepared for the torments 
of the devil and his angels, 32 to have community of punish- 
ment with those whose will they chose to do. Who then would 
not be in terror of that lot of eternal tortures ? Who would not 
fear ills never to be ended f ' ' 33 

29. Salvian, Priest of Marseilles (d. 440) : 

Like a new Jeremias he denounced in words of burning elo- 
quence the prevailing vices of his time as the cause of the divine 
displeasures and anger, and the source of public calamities. 

"Guilty, faithless man, when thou shalt go forth out of this 
life, the Holy Judgment Seat awaits thee. There thou shalt 
encounter the avenging angels, and the terrible ministers of end- 
less torments. When does man kindle for himself eternal fire? 
When he first begins to sin. When does he give strength to 
the fire and increase its violence ? When he heaps sins upon sins. 
When will he enter the eternal fire? When by the excess of 
his increasing sins he shall have filled up the irremediable sum 
of all ills, as the Saviour said to the scribes and Pharisees, ' ' Fill 
ye up the measure of your fathers. ' ' 34 

30. St. Cassarius, Archbishop of Aries (d. 502) : 

"Again and again I entreat you, dearest brethren, let us both 
consider the eternal joy of the just after slight toil, and fear the 
endless punishment of sinners after a passing gladness. ' ' 35 

31. St. Fulgentius, Bishop of Ruspe in Numidia (d. 507) : 
"When the unchangeable sentence of Christ, the Just Judge, 

shall have been pronounced, all the wicked shall go to eternal 
burning, but the just to life eternal ; the wicked to burn forever 
with the devil, and the righteous to reign forever with Christ. ' ' 36 

32. St. John Damascene, celebrated for his polemical writings 
against the Manicheans (d. 754) : 

He is looked upon as an authentic witness to the doctrine of 

29 Tract. I, de Baptismo. 30 In Isaiara lxv. 20. 

3i Serm. lx. 32 Matt. xxv. 41. 33 Sermo ix. De Collectis. 

34 Matt, xxiii. 32. Serm. De Gubern, Dei. 1. iv. 

35 Horn. xiii. 36 De Fide ad Petrum, c. xliii. 



372 Eternal Punishment 

the Greek Church, from the apostolic age to his own times. 

"We shall rise again, and our souls will again be united to 
their bodies, which shall then be incorruptible, and shall appear 
before the awful tribunal of Christ. The devil and the demons, 
Antichrist and the ungodly shall be plunged into the everlast- 
ing fire. But they who have done good shall shine forth as the 
sun with the angels, and enjoy life everlasting with our Lord 
Jesus Christ." 37 

508. 33. St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor (d. 604) : 

"The impious man atones in torments also for the sinful de- 
sires which he entertained. Given over to the avenging flames 
he is not consumed and put an end to by death, for then all 
pain would cease along with his life. But in order that he may 
be perpetually tormented, he is compelled to live forever in pain. 
For as his life in this world was dead in sin, so the spiritual 
death shall always live there. Sinners wished to live forever, 
that they might forever persevere in their iniquities. There- 
fore, they desire also to live, in order that they may sin so long 
as they live. The justice then of the exacting judge requires 
that those, who, in this life never wished to refrain from sin, 
should never be free from punishment, and that there should be 
no termination of chastisement for the impious men, because 
they did not wish to cease from sin, so long as they had the 
power to commit it. ' ' 38 

Much weight is added to the argument of the holy Doctor if 
taken in connection with the famous saying of Christ recorded 
in St. Mark's Gospel, chapter iii. verse 29: "He that shall 
sin against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven, but shall 
become guilty of an eternal sin." This is exemplified in the 
sad attitude of such sinners as refuse the grace of repentance 
even to the bitter end, and carry with them to Christ's tribunal 
the canker of mortal sin. We fail to see any injustice in the 
punishment that lasts as long as the sin, that is, forever. 39 

Moreover, all remission of mortal sin, which takes place in 
this life, is due to the merits of Christ operating on penitent 
souls through the sacraments, which He instituted for that pur- 
pose. But the application of these merits for the forgiveness of 
mortal sin is restricted to the present life, the time of probation ; 
hence, they cannot be applied to the damned. Therefore, their 
sin remains forever unforgiven, and is consequently forever 
justly punished. For this reason, St. Bernard treating of this 
very point says: "Semper puniri poterit, quod non potest ex- 
piari." — "There is no wrong in punishing forever, what can 
never be expiated, atoned for by penance." 40 

37 De Fide, 1. iv. 27. 38 See Enchiridion Patr. pp. 811, 812. 

39 A similar argument is found in the Summa of St. Thomas Contra 
Gentiles, Lib. iii. c. 144. 

40 See St. Thomas, Supplem. q. xcix, art. 1, 2, 3, 4. 



Divinely Revealed 373 

The same holy Pontiff, in his comments on the Book of Job, 
quotes the following text of that holy prophet : 

' 'He [the impious man] shall be punished for all that he 
did, and yet shall not be consumed. ' ' 41 

' l This means that he is tormented, but not destroyed ; he dies, 
and yet lives ; he fails and still subsists ; he seems always to end, 
and yet his life never ends. If these things are so terrible only 
in hearing them, what will they be to the reprobates, that have 
to suffer them?" 42 

We close here our quotations from the Fathers and other 
ecclesiastical writers, which cover the first seven centuries of the 
Christian Era. 



CHAPTER VIII 

AN UNBROKEN CHAIN OF WITNESSES TO THE TRUTH 
OF ENDLESS FUTURE RETRIBUTION 

509. We have seen in the preceding chapter the series of testi- 
monies to the dogma of hell's eternity. Beginning from the 
apostolic age it reaches, without interruption, the eighth century 
of the Christian Era. Here we ask : Has this series of witnesses 
been broken and ceased to assert God 's revealed truth ? No ; by 
no means. It has been faithfully kept up and continued by a 
galaxy of Catholic historians, canonists, and theologians who, 
both by their teachings in the leading universities and episcopal 
seminaries of Europe and by their writings expounded, illus- 
trated, and defended the dogmas of the Catholic Church, and 
thus admirably contributed to preserve the Faith in all its purity 
and integrity. 

It must be interesting for Catholics to know who were the 
most conspicuous writers from the eighth to the sixteenth cen- 
tury, whose learned works approved by the Church, bear testi- 
mony to the truth we are vindicating. 

510. They are the following, listed in the order of their life- 
time, that is, in chronological order: 

1. Flaccus Alcuin (755). 

2. Paulinus of Aquileia (780). 

3. Rabanus Maurus (847). 

4. Remigius, Archbishop of London (893). 

5. Odo, Abbot of Cluny (942). 

6. St. Peter Damian (1057). 

7. Lanfrancus, Archbishop of Canterbury (1090). 

8. St. Bruno, Founder of the Carthusians (1101). 

9. St. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury (1109). 
4i Job xx. 18. 42 Moral, xv. n. 21. 



374 Eternal Punishment 

10. St. Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux (1126). 

11. Peter Lombard, Archbishop of Paris, the famous Magister 

Sententiarum (1145). 

12. Richard of St. Victor (1173). 

13. St. Albert the Great (1240). 

14. St. Bonaventure (1274). 

15. St. Thomas Aquinas, surnamed the Angelic Doctor (1274). 

16. Duns Scotus (1308). 

17. Nicholas Lyranus (1320). 

18. John Tauler (1361). 

19. John Gerson (1363). 

20. Cardinal Peter Alliacensis (1396). 

21. Cardinal Nicholas Cusan (1401). 

22. Dionysius Carthusianus (1403). 

23. Leonard de Rubeis (1405). 

24. St. Bernardine of Siena (1438). 

25. Cardinal Bessarion (1440). 

26. Alphonsus Tostatus (1455). 

27. St. Laurence Justinian, Patriarch of Venice (1455). 

28. Gabriel Biel (1495). 

29. Franeiscus Ferrariensis (1502). 

30. Cardinal Thomas Cajetan (1510). 

31. Blessed John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester and Martyr 

(1520). 

32. Frederick Staphylus (1564). 

For the above complete list of ecclesiastical writers from the 
year 755 to the year 1564, we are indebted to the Enchiridion 
Sacrarum Disciplinarum, Auctore Zepherino Zitelli. 

Most of the preceding writers composed works which involved 
the discussion of future retribution. Hence, if space permitted 
it, it would be very easy to show from their writings the ortho- 
dox traditional doctrine on the eternity of both the happiness 
of the blessed and of the punishment of the reprobates. 

511. To know the zeal, energy, ardor, and, I might say, the 
enthusiasm with which all the branches of religious knowledge 
and spiritual science have been cultivated under the inspiration 
and auspices of the Catholic Church from the twelfth century 
to our own times, we need but call to mind the astounding fact 
that from the year 1109 to the year 1894 there flourished within 
her fold as many as 12,208 writers. This statement the reader 
can easily verify by consulting a most valuable work of Father 
H. Hurter, S. J. I mean the Nomenclator Literarius, in four 
volumes, in which the indefatigable author gives us, as the result 
of his labors, a complete history of Catholic theology, and its 
allied branches from the year 1109, when theological studies be- 
gan to be systematically pursued, to the year 1894, the date of 
publication of that most creditable and useful production. 

Is there anything outside the Catholic Church that can com- 



Divinely Revealed 375 

pare with this brilliant array of writers, whose works, rilling 
the libraries of the civilized world of both hemispheres, cover the 
whole field of ecclesiastical learning, such as Dogmatic and 
Moral Theology, Canon Law, Sacred Scripture, Ascetics, Church 
History, Christian Archeology and other branches? Confingant 
quidquam tale adversarii nostri si valent. 

512. But here the reader will naturally ask us what kind of 
testimony do the numerous authors mentioned above bear to the 
question at issue; namely, the endless duration of the infernal 
regions and their miserable inhabitants, whether fallen angels, or 
reprobate human creatures ? 

Here is the answer : In the first place, by far the largest num- 
ber of those writers, as their still extant works prove, have pro- 
fessedly treated that very question and solved it in an orthodox 
sense, as it is rightly expected from all Catholic authors, whose 
sacred duty is, in matters of faith, to conform their teaching to 
that of their infallible, heaven-appointed guide, the Catholic 
Church. 

Secondly : As to those writers who may not have had occasion 
to treat ex professo of this dogma of divine revelation in their 
writings, we are certain that they also may be reckoned, at least, 
as indirect witnesses to that dogmatic truth, for they neither 
doubted or denied it. Moreover, if they had acted otherwise, 
their heretical statements could not escape the vigilant eye of 
God's Church, and their names would find no place in a thor- 
oughly Catholic work, like Hurter's Nomenclator, published 
after due revision, and with the full approval of the Church au- 
thorities. 

CHAPTER IX 

THE TESTIMONY OF CHRISTIAN MARTYRS ON THE 
TRUTH OP EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT 

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 

513. St. Augustine in his explanation of Psalm xxxiv, verse 23, 
"My God and my Lord, arise and heed my cause"; makes some 
reflections suitable to our present subject. "The Psalmist," 
writes the holy Doctor, "does not say 'heed my sufferings,' or 
1 the persecution I endure, ' but ' my cause. ' For sufferings may 
be common both to the just and to the wicked. Therefore, it is 
not pain that makes martyrdom, but the cause or motive for 
which it is undergone." And in his comments on Christ's Ser- 
mon on the Mount, developing the same thought, he writes: 
"The Lord did not simply say: 'Blessed are they that suffer 
persecution,' 1 but He added 'for justice sake,' for where there is 

i Matt. v. 10. 



376 Eternal Punishment 

not the true Faith there cannot be justice, that is, a just cause.' ' 
Hence, if some one who submits to tortures is moved by any 
worldly or sinful motive, such as pride, obstinacy, vain glory, and 
the like, or does so to show his tenacity in maintaining some in- 
dividual, private opinion in matters of doctrine, he is no candi- 
date for martyrdom in the sense held by the Catholic Church. 
Moreover, it is not a sound Catholic principle to hold that no 
one generally dies save for truth, for it is a historical fact that 
numbers of heretics have exhibited a certain amount of courage 
in dying for erroneous doctrines. 

For this reason we have no right to term every man a martyr 
who dies for an opinion. 

Etymologically a martyr is a witness. Now, we cannot be wit- 
nesses of simple views, but only of facts and of doctrines logically 
springing from them. This was what Christ meant when He 
said to His disciples : "You shall be witnesses unto Me in Jeru- 
salem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the uttermost 
part of the earth." 2 The martyrs, then, were witnesses not to 
an opinion, but to a fact, the Christian fact, the existence and 
heavenly origin of the religion of Jesus Christ. Some had wit- 
nessed its beginning, and were thoroughly acquainted with its 
Founder; their hands, as St. John the Evangelist expressed it, 
"Had handled the Word of Life." 3 The others knew of the 
same fact by a living, uninterrupted tradition, of which the links 
were as yet few and easily verifiable. Others, again, though 
living at a somewhat remoter age, were fully aware of the pro- 
vision made by Jesus Christ for the preservation of the doctrine 
of His Gospel from error and corruption, by founding His 
Church, the visible and universal witness to God 's truth, indivis- 
ible in her unity, indefectible in her life, infallible in her voice, 
and divine in the authority she possessed. The martyrs, then, in 
dying for Christ, bore witness to all the truths, which He perma- 
nently teaches mankind through His authentic representative, 
the Church. For these reasons between the death of the martyrs 
in testimony to the above facts, and the death of heretics, who re- 
fused to renounce a new opinion, utterly at variance with those 
divinely established facts, no comparison whatever is possible. 
Even though determination and courage were equal on both 
sides, the value of the testimony would be altogether different ; 
only believers united to God's Church by faith and charity 
would have the right to be styled witnesses and Christian mar- 
tyrs. Thus Pascal's dictum is quite correct. He does not say, 
4 ' I believe every man who is slain for a doctrine ' ' ; but, with his 
usual almost mathematical precision, he says, "I believe those 
facts, the witnesses of which allow themselves to be slain." 
That the language of Pascal is here perfectly correct appears 
also from the following terms used by the Fathers of the Vatican 

2 Acts i. 8. si John i. 1. 



Divinely Revealed 377 

Council: "In order that the obedience of faith might be in 
harmony with reason, God willed that to the interior help of 
the Holy Spirit, should be joined exterior proofs of His Revela- 
tion, to wit: Divine Facts and especially miracles and prophe- 
cies." 4 

In the light of these principles, we fully grasp the meaning of 
St. Paul when he says: "If I should deliver my body to be 
burned and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. ' ' 5 This 
would be what commentators call a material, but not a formal, 
meritorious martyrdom. 6 

514. The strongest evidence of the sincere faith of the martyrs 
in their confession is the fact of the dreadful sufferings which 
they had to undergo. They were condemned to die, according 
to the whim of the magistrates, either on the ignominous wood 
of the cross, a punishment at first reserved for slaves, or by be- 
heading, or being burned alive, frozen to death, quartered, 
strangled, drowned ; or by being immersed in boiling oil, or pitch, 
or molten lead, or quicklime; or by being roasted on a grill or 
red hot iron bed ; at other times, they were thrown to the beasts, 
enclosed in sacks with poisonous serpents, or shut up in dark 
dungeons to be devoured by rats, which found in them the only 
food for their voracious, maddened hunger. It is impossible to 
read without a thrill of emotion of the agonies suffered by the 
confessors of Christ, and these we find narrated not in legendary 
stories, but in authentic documents still preserved in the archives 
of Christendom. They are authenticated reports of the judi- 
cial processes, which in the Roman empire had to be faithfully 
recorded, copies of which industrious Christian writers managed 
to secure. 7 

The testimony, which they continued to bear with unshaken 
fortitude, even to the shedding of their blood, was the result at 
once of their faith, their reason, and their virtue. Even the 
heathens accepted its convincing force, when they enrolled them- 
selves in the ranks of such heroes under the banner of Christ, 
drawn thereto by the mere sight of the confessors of the Faith, 
recognizing in their indomitable courage an irrefragable witness 
and proof of the truth and divinity of the religion that inspired 
it. St. Justin, himself a martyr, writes that it was the brave 
death of the Christians that converted him. 8 Their utterances 
were as calm as they were eloquent, for they spoke them when 
confronting death, on the very threshold of eternity. The nar- 
ratives of their sufferings and their sayings in those crucial mo- 
ments, faithfully recorded by their surviving fellow-Christians, 
under the guidance of the Church, are fully authenticated, be- 

*D. Enchiridion, p. 476. si Cor. xiii. 3. 

6 See ten lectures on the martyrs by the late Paul Allard, English version. 

i See Fromby's History of the Early Church for full description of the 
many instruments of martyrdom. 8 Apologia Eelig. Christ. 



378 Eternal Punishment 

ing extracted, most of them, from the judicial processes, as the 
laws of the Roman Empire required that they should be care- 
fully registered and reported to the imperial authorities. 

515. In a previous chapter I alluded to the fact that we are 
living in a critical age ; hence the necessity of resorting in our 
citations to authentic, genuine, reliable documents. Fully con- 
vinced of this condition and exigency of our times, I brought no 
testimony of any martyr whose authenticity could not be demon- 
strated. In this respect my task was comparatively easy, as I 
availed myself of the patient, conscientious labors of the distin- 
guished Benedictine scholar, Theodore Ruinart (d. 1709), who 
devoted several years of his laborious life to the collection and 
authentication of a large number of the narratives of the early 
Christian martyrs and of the speeches they addressed to their 
persecutors in the solemn hour of their execution. The ' ' Catho- 
lic Encyclopedia," 9 designates him as one of the most eminent 
church historians and critics of his time. Hurter, in his 
Nomenclator, 10 says of his chief work on the early martyrs, that 
it is full of solid erudition, and remarkable for his sober criticism. 
The sayings that we shall quote as having been uttered by the 
martyrs are the more remarkable because they come from indi- 
viduals of every class of society. We reckon among them men 
and women of noble birth, men and women of the middle and 
laborer's class, boys and girls, merchants, scholars, soldiers. 
Every nation contributed its share of heroic witnesses to the 
Catholic Faith; Greece, Rome, West Africa, Egypt, Persia, 
Scythia, Spain, Italy, Gaul, and other countries too numerous to 
mention, counted their martyrs by the thousands. 

516. The shrewd pagans, bent on destroying Christianity, se- 
lected as their victims particularly bishops and priests, think- 
ing that, by doing away with the shepherds, their flocks would 
soon be scattered. But they were baffled in their wicked attempt, 
for multitudes of new pastors soon replaced their martyred pred- 
ecessors, thereby showing that the power of Christ was render- 
ing His loyal servants absolutely unconquerable. Tertullian's 
saying was literally verified, "Sanguis martyrum semen Christia- 
norum." — "The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians." 
This is the language of the African apologist to the imperial 
persecutors: "Torment, torture, burn us alive; your iniquity 
is the best proof of our innocence. Our virgin maidens fear 
more the place of turpitude where you threaten to send them 
than the lions and tigers of the arena, for to them the loss of 
purity is a more atrocious pain than the most cruel death. ' ' 1 
But Christ, for whose sake they were ready to die, added the 
crown of virginity to that of martyrdom on behalf of millions 
of His loyal spouses. 

9 Vol. xiii. p. 222. ioVol. ii. p. 795. 

ii Enchiridion Patr., p. 127, n. 285. 



Divinely Revealed 379 

In the words of Doctor Pusey, the animating, constraining 
principle was the love of Christ, who had died for them. 

To the tyrant who had condemned him to the funeral pile, 
thus bravely spoke St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna: "For 
eighty-six years I am Christ 's servant ; how can I blaspheme my 
King, who died to save me?" 

The brief words which the martyrs spoke in those crucial 
moments, often referring to the fire that shall never be extin- 
guished, were mostly called forth by the threats of their judges 
and persecutors, and they express in their simple, earnest lan- 
guage the deeply rooted conviction of those who uttered them. 
Now, these heroic witnesses being found in every part of the 
Church of Christ, and representing every class of persons, noble 
and plebeian, learned and illiterate, rich and poor, old and 
young, attest the faith of all classes of Christians in the ter- 
rific truth of everlasting punishment, to avoid which they did 
not shrink from the most excruciating torments that satanic in- 
genuity could suggest and human cruelty inflict. 

In the admirable language of the Holy Martyrs we see liter- 
ally fulfilled the promise made by our Lord Jesus Christ, the 
King of Martyrs, in His Gospel. He said : ' ' They will deliver 
you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. 
And you shall be brought before governors and before kings 
for My sake. But when they shall deliver you up, take no 
thought how, or what to speak, for it shall be given you in that 
hour what to speak. " 12 " The Holy Ghost shall teach you in the 
same hour what you must say. " 13 

These were the precise words quoted by St. Lucy, Virgin and 
Martyr, in addressing her executioners, as related in the Les- 
sons of the second nocturn for December 13, her feast. 

We need not then be surprised if our theologians and apolo- 
gists reckon the testimony of martyrs as one of the strongest 
evidences of the divinity of the Christian religion, which recog- 
nizes them as the witnesses of its truth. 14 



CHAPTER X 

LIST OF MARTYRS AND RECORD OF THEIR DYING 

WORDS 

For the testimony cf the three early martyrs, St. Ignatius, 
St. Justin, and St. Polycarp, see n. 505. 

St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna and himself a martyr (d. 

12 Matt. x. 17, 18, 19. is Luke xii. 12. 

14 See S. Schiffini, S.J., De Vera Religione, his posthumous work, pp. 
126-133. Siena, 1908. For a very graphic picture of the fortitude of 
martyrs, see Newman's Grammar of Assent, pp. 471-478. 



380 Eternal Punishment 

156), wrote as follows in one of his epistles: "The martyrs, 
bearing in mind the grace received from Christ, despised the 
torments of one hour's duration, which were to save them from 
eternal pains. Fire appeared to them refreshing, when they 
thought of the fire that is eternal and shall never be extin- 
guished. They were also encouraged to suffer patiently by con- 
sidering the goods reserved to the just." 

517. 1. St. Felicitas and her seven sons suffered martyrdom 
in the persecution of Emperor Antoninus (a. d. 150). Sylvanus, 
one of the sons, when threatened with the torment of fire, if he 
refused to sacrifice to idols, thus spoke to the tyrant Publius 
in the name of all : 

"If we feared a passing destruction, we should incur eternal 
punishment. But knowing what rewards are prepared for the 
righteous, and what punishment is appointed for sinners, we 
fearlessly despise unjust human laws, to keep the divine com- 
mands. For they who, despising idols, serve Almighty God, wil] 
find eternal life ; but they who adore demons will be with them 
in destruction and in everlasting burning. ' ' x 

2. St. Maximus, a plebeian laborer under Decius. 

As the martyr was being beaten with clubs, the proconsul said : 
"Sacrifice, Maximus, that thou mayest be free from these tor- 
ments," Maximus replied: "These are not torments which are 
inflicted for the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, bat anointings. 
But if I depart from the commandments of my Lord, in which 
I have been instructed from His Gospel, there will await me real 
and perpetual torments." 2 

3. St. Dionysia, a young girl of 16 (a. d. 484). 

On seeing the miserable fall of one who had apostatized under 
torture, she cried out: "Most unhappy and miserable man, who 
for the sake of one hour hast gained for thyself perpetual and 
unspeakable punishment. ' ' 3 She was beheaded. 

4. St. Hermes. 

The prefect Bassus having said to him : ' ' You shall be burned 
alive if you persist in your insane worship of Christ," he cour- 
ageously answered: "You threaten me with this light flame, 
which is soon extinguished, ignoring the violence of the per- 
petual fire, which shall burn without ceasing. ' ' 4 

5. St. Ferreolus of Vienne, an officer in the imperial army un- 
der Severus (a. d. 212). 

The prefect offered him pardon for "his contumacious words 
against the gods, " if he would repent, renounce Christ and sac- 
rifice to the idols. The brave martyr promptly answered: 
"You confound the right order of things by preferring the 
temporal to the eternal; things dead to the living, falsehood to 

i Ruinart, pp. 26, 27, 2nd Ed. 2 id., n. 2, p. 157. 3 id., n. 3, p. 159. 

* Acts of St. Philip, Bishop of Heraclea. Patuzzi, p. 170, n. xxii, 2d 
Edit. 



Divinely Revealed 381 

truth, and therefore you are condemned forever with the malig- 
nant spirits. ' ' 5 

6. SS. Marcian and Lucian (a. d. 600). 

They were magicians converted to Christianity on finding 
their powerlessness against the worshipers of Jesus. "We are 
prepared," said Marcian to the magistrate, "for any torment 
which you may inflict, rather than by denying the living and true 
God to be cast into outer darkness and unextinguishable fire, 
which God prepared for the devil and his angels. ' ' 6 

7. St. Claudius, under Diocletian. 

He thus spoke to Lysias, the imperial officer: "Thou canst 
not injure me by thy torments, but providest for thy own soul 
unquenchable fire and eternal sufferings. ' ' 7 

8. St. Domnina, under Diocletian. 

She thus addressed the judge: "Lest I fall into eternal fire 
and perpetual torments, I worship God and His Christ, who 
made heaven and earth, and all that is in them. ' ' 8 She expired 
under the scourges. 

9. St. Theonilla, a noble matron under Diocletian. 

The prefect said to her: "Thou seest, woman, what fire and 
what torments are here prepared for those who dare to contra- 
dict." She replied: "I fear eternal fire, which can destroy 
body and soul, especially of those, who have impiously left God 
and have adored idols and demons. ' ' 9 She too expired under 
the cruel tortures. For true meaning of words in italic see 
Luke xii. 4, 5, and Part IX. 

10. St. Victor, a soldier of noble birth under Maximian. 

He was tried in the presence of the Emperor. The following 
sayings are recorded of him: "These, which I suffer, are not 
rightly called torments, but refreshments, which extinguish eter- 
nal sufferings. No one, however insane, concedes bliss to the 
flagitious. It remains then true that the only retributions for 
such after this life, is everlasting misery, and condemnation to 
eternal burnings." Addressing some of his fellow-soldiers, 
who guarded him and had been converted, he said: "Endure 
momentary sufferings, that you may triumphantly escape those 
that are eternal. ' ' 10 

11. St. Tarachus, a veteran soldier and Roman citizen. 

When the tyrant Maximus ordered that his hands should 
be burned, he heroically bore the excruciating pain and said 
to him: "I fear not your temporary fire, but I fear, if I give 
way to you, that I become partaker after death, of the eternal 
fire." 11 

12. St. Crispina (a. d. 304), a celebrated African martyr, a 
matron of noble rank and great wealth. 

sRuinart, n. 2. p. 510. 6 id., n. 6, p. 168. 7 Id., p. 280. 

s Id., n. 5, p. 281. 9 id., p. 281. io id., n. 2, p. 300 " Id., n. 1, p. 458. 



382 Eternal Punishment 

The proconsul asked her: "Dost thou wish to live long or to 
die in suffering, like thy companions, Maxima, Donatilla, and 
Secunda?" She answered: "If I willed to die and give my 
soul to destruction and to eternal fire, I would give my will to 
thy demons/' St. Augustine says of her: "Is there any one 
in Africa who does not know of her ? " 12 

13. St. Afra, under Diocletian. 

Converted from her evil ways and full of confidence in the in- 
finite mercy of Jesus Christ, she prayed to Him before her execu- 
tion thus : 

"O Lord Almighty Jesus Christ, who earnest not to call the 
righteous, but sinners to repentance, accept my penitence in this 
hour of my passion, and through this temporal fire, which is pre- 
pared for my body, deliver me from that eternal fire, which 
burnetii soul and body together, ' ' that is, the reprobate soul im- 
mediately after the particular judgment; and soul and body 
after the universal judgment for all eternity, as Catholic faith 
teaches us. She was burned alive. 13 

14. St. Peter Balsamus, a martyr of Palestine under Emperor 
Maximian. 

He thus spoke to his sympathizing friends, grieved at the 
streams of blood coming from his wounds : ' ' These punishments 
are of no account, nor do they inflict any pain on me. But if I 
deny the name of my God, I know that I shall incur real punish- 
ment and greater perpetual torments. 14 

15. St. Julius, a veteran soldier of the Persian Army under 
King Sapor. 

When taunted by Maximus with the folly of making more of 
a dead man [Christ] than of kings who lived, he answered. 
1 ' Christ died for us that He might give us eternal life. But He 
is God abiding forever, whom if any one confess, he shall have 
eternal life ; if he deny, he shall have perpetual punishment. ' ' 15 

16. St. Patricius, Bishop under Julian the Apostate. 

Being bidden by the proconsul to worship the idols Ascala- 
phius and Sylvanus, he replied: "God, knowing that men 
would offend Him, their Creator and Lord, made two abodes, one 
resplendent with everlasting light, and full of all exquisite goods, 
the other with perpetual darkness and fire for an everlasting pun- 
ishment: that those, who had pleased Him and obeyed His 
word, might live in perpetual light ; but they who, through their 
licentious life, had deserved His anger, should be cast into dark- 
ness, to all punishment and eternal torments." 16 

17. St. Simeon, Bishop, Martyr, under Sapor, King of Persia. 
He thus spoke to his companions led to martyrdom: "Know, 

my beloved, that this our death will live in everlasting life ; but 
that this life through apostasy, will die by an eternal death. 

12 Sermon 354, n. 5. 13 Assemani, Acta Martvrum, xii. p. 221. 

i*Ruinart, n. 1, p. 558. is id., p. 615. i«Id, p. 622. 



Divinely Revealed 383 

Each will give exact account of his life here, and each will re- 
ceive deathless reward of what he has done well, or will sustain 
deathless punishment if he has done ill. " 17 

18. St. Miles, Bishop in the Orient. 

He thus addressed his proud judge: "Woe to you! God 
shall judge you in the world to come in Gehenna and darkness, 
and will requite to your pride weeping and gnashing of teeth 
for ever and ever. ' ' 18 

19. St. Acepsimas, under King Sapor. 

While he was tormented, the impious tyrant tauntingly asked 
him : ' ' Where is thy God now, let Him come and deliver you, 
if He can, from my hand." The venerable old man replied: 
"God could certainly deliver me, if He would. As to yourself, 
you need not boast, for your life is a flower that will soon fade. 
You are dead, though you live, because you do not live in the 
love of God, your Maker. You will die the temporal death, and 
the other death by burning forever in Gehenna, by the righteous 
judgment of God. The fire which you worship instead of your 
Creator, will torment both your soul and your body." 19 [The 
Pagan Persians adored Fire as a god.] 

20. St. Joseph, a priest (a.d. 302). 

He thus said to his torturer: "You destroy my body; it is 
in your power. But you cannot destroy my soul, nor annul the 
good hope of the resurrection unto life promised to us ; for you 
there is prepared weeping and gnashing of teeth forever and 
ever. ' ' 

It is plain that we could add thousands of other names easily 
culled from the sixty-three folio volumes of the Acta Sanctorum, 
that monumental work of the Bollandists, 20 which only Catholic 
Christianity could produce. 

518. It is evident that no mere human courage and fortitude 
could enable weak human creatures to display such heroism; 
hence the necessity of the all-powerful assistance of divine 
grace. Now, can we suppose that Almighty God, eternal, im- 
mutable truth, whilst helping the martyrs to remain faithful to 
Him under tortures, would allow them to bear witness in their 
dying hours to statements that are not true? Could the Lord 
give countenance to a lie ? Hence the inevitable conclusion that 
the language of the martyr furnishes an additional evidence of 
the truth of the divinely revealed Christian dogma, the eternity 
of the punishment of Hell, and of the dreadful reality of the 
torment of fire, so often mentioned by those intrepid heroes, 
who confirmed their faith by the greatest of sacrifices, that of 
their lives. As Christ said: "Greater love than this no man 
hath that a man lay down his life for his friends. ' ' 21 

17 Asseraani, Acta Martyr., i. 33. is Id., i. 77. 

is Id., p. 181. 20 See Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. ii. p. 630. 

2i John xv. 13. 



384 Eternal Punishment 

REFERENCES 

Rev. E. P. Pusey: "What is of Faith as to Everlasting Pun- 
ishment," pp. 151-169. 

Allard : ' ' Ten Lectures on the Martyrs. ' ' 

Marsiglia: "II Martirio Cristiano." — "The Christian Mar- 
tyrdom. ' ' 

Ruinart, 0. S. B., "Acta Sincera et Selecta Primorum Mar- 
tyrum. ' ' 

Assemani, "Acta Martyrum. " 

Otto Bardenhewer; Patrology — Appendix. The Acts of Mar- 
tyrs, p. 228. 

Patuzzi: "De Futuro Impiorum Statu." Editio 2 a , pp. 167, 
170, 171, 270. 



CHAPTER XI 

HELL'S ETERNAL DURATION ASSERTED BY ANCIENT 

AND MODERN PEOPLES AND BY BOTH HEATHEN 

AND CHRISTIAN WRITERS 

PRELIMINARY NOTE ON PRIMITIVE TRADITION 

By the deposit of primitive tradition historians understand 
the principles of morality and the truths of religion which God 
revealed to our progenitors, and were handed down to posterity. 
They may be reduced to the following fundamental heads : 

A. That there is within ourselves an immaterial principle, the 
soul. 

B. That there exists above ourselves a Being infinitely intelli- 
gent, powerful and perfect, God, the Creator and Ruler of all 
things. 

C. That between ourselves and Him there are relations of sub- 
jection, dependence, and obligation. 

D. That death is but a passage to another world, where the 
soul will live an immortal life. 

E. That, as conscience testifies, we are accountable to the Su- 
preme, invisible Judge for the use we shall make of our liberty, 
whether good or evil, and shall accordingly receive either re- 
ward or punishment. 

Though these truths may be said to belong to the natural 
order inasmuch as they are attainable by man's natural facul- 
ties, yet they are rightly traced to primitive divine revelation, 
which was intended to sanction and preserve them in their sub- 
stantial integrity for the benefit of the human race. 

We may here apply the doctrine of St. Thomas, who says of 
divine revelation that it was given to facilitate and hasten the 
attainment of those truths, and to preserve them from error. 



Divinely Revealed 385 

Hence he writes: "Homines quovis tempore divinitus instructi 
sunt." — "Men have been, at all times, divinely instructed." 

When, after the Deluge, men were dispersed and went to live 
in different countries the leaders or chiefs of the several expedi- 
tions brought along with them to their new habitations the fun- 
damental principles of religion and morality, which were trans- 
mitted to the succeeding generations. Authority was their 
teacher, and tradition was the chief argument to which they 
appealed to justify their belief. Hence these most important re- 
ligious and moral truths were looked upon and cherished as the 
legacy they had received from their fathers, and these in turn 
from their predecessors, tracing them from one generation to 
another to primeval men, to whom God had personally revealed 
them. 

In spite of the perversion wrought by idolatry, superstition, 
and moral corruption, the primitive tradition never became 
totally extinct, owing particularly to the influence exerted by 
the Hebrew nation, whose providential destiny was to preserve 
among Gentile peoples, among whom they dwelt in captivity, 
the religious and moral truths handed down from the remotest 
antiquity. 1 (See n. 477.) 

Auguste Nicolas, after a thorough review of the religious and 
moral tenets of both ancient and modern nations, as testified by 
trustworthy historians, concludes thus: "In all the primitive 
peoples, and in all the countries discovered by navigators in the 
East and West ; in the remotest islands it was found that among 
other salutary truths the fear of eternal hell had penetrated into 
all regions. Then the whole world, whether civilized or bar- 
barian, ancient or modern; its poets, its philosophers, its his- 
torians, all bear witness to the truth of the Christian dogma on 
the existence of eternal pains for impenitent sinners. 

Whence comes this belief entertained by the whole human 
race? It springs, no doubt, from the primitive revelation im- 
parted by God to our first parents, which accounts for its being 
permanent, universal and unchangeable. 2 

519. Three distinguished German authors have grappled with 
the momentous question to be treated in this chapter, viz., Fliigel, 
Knabenbauer, and Cathrein. The two former savants give us 
the result of their historical investigations regarding the nations 
of antiquity, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Egypt, and the Hebrew 
people. The third writer, Father Cathrein, passes in review 
all the peoples and races of our own times, whether civilized or 
barbarian. The conclusion to be derived from the result of their 
conscientious study authorizes us to state that the following 
chief truths and moral principles are found so deeply rooted in 

i See Monotheism, by Rev. Henry Formby, ch. 11. See also Tobias xiii. 4. 

2 See Auguste Nicolas, volume iii of his Etudes Philosophiques sur le 
Christianisme. 



386 Eternal Punishment 

the conscience of mankind that neither the vagaries of mythology 
nor the corruption of morals ever succeeded in stifling or destroy- 
ing them. We here briefly record such religious truths and 
rules of conduct as have been preserved in the tradition, history 
and literature of both ancient and modern nations and tribes. 

1. The existence of one chief Deity, the Creator of all things, 
the Ruler, Provisor, and Judge of mankind. 

2. The belief in future retribution of the just, and punish- 
ment of the wicked. 

3. Their idea of the essential difference between right and 
wrong, good and evil. 

4. Man's accountability to a higher power as to each man's 
deeds, whether good or bad. 

5. Belief in the permanent continuance of man's life in a fu- 
ture world, which evidently implies the immortality of the hu- 
man soul. 

As to this last statement, it is important to recall here again 
the candid admission of the renowned English writer, Boling- 
broke. 

"The doctrine of the soul's immortality," he says, "and of a 
future state of reward and chastisement seemed at first to be 
lost in the darkness of antiquity. But on further attentive in- 
vestigation, we find that such a belief precedes all we know for 
certain about the past. In fact, from the moment that we begin 
to clear the ground from the chaotic legends of ancient history 
and mythology, we find the belief in man's future, endless ex- 
istence established on solid evidence in the sentiments and tra- 
ditions of the oldest nations we are acquainted with. ' ' 3 

520. The five points stated above, as the result of the conscien- 
tious investigations of the three aforementioned ethnologists, can 
doubtless be accepted as a sufficient proof of the proposition an- 
nounced in this chapter, particularly by such of our readers as 
may have access to the works of those three distinguished his- 
torians. 

But to satisfy all earnest inquirers we shall here quote other 
writers, who with patient industry ransacked the records of past 
ages and thus enabled posterity to profit by their studies con- 
cerning the belief of the human race in the existence of a future, 
eternal retribution. 

Our citations will demonstrate the truth of what St. John 
Chrysostom said in his treatise on Christian Perfection: "Not 
only the Jews but also Gentile peoples, poets, philosophers, and 
historians, taught that the wicked suffer everlasting pains." 

As seen in the quotations alleged in Parts III and VI, and in 
those to be adduced in this chapter, among the truths testified by 
ancient writers, the spokesmen of their respective nations, we 

s Urraburu, Philosophia, vol. vi. p. 646, note 2. G. Rawlinson, Religions 
of the Ancient World, 



Divinely Revealed 387 

find also that of the endless duration of future punishment. In 
fact, some of them not only assert and prove the necessity of 
some kind of penal retribution, but even go so far as to state 
their belief in its eternal duration. Now, some may ask: How 
can this be, since the eternity of future punishment cannot be 
proved from reason alone ? The difficulty is solved, if we recall 
the fact that hell's eternity was one of the religious, moral 
truths handed down from primitive divine revelation, the truth 
which the ancient philosophers found to be in full harmony with 
the promptings of reason. What God had revealed their natural 
intelligence and moral sense fully approved. 

Having spoken at some length of the belief of the ancient 
Hebrews in the soul's immortality and future retribution, we 
here simply remark that such a belief necessarily implies the 
endless duration of that retribution: a duration commensurate 
with the immortal existence of the soul whether blessed or 
reprobate. 

As to the Gentile nations, the historian Gunther draws from 
their ancient writings the following inference: "It is clear 
that they believed in the existence of three places to be allotted 
to the departed according to their deserts, Elysium, the Lower 
Regions, and Tartarus. 

"1. Elysium, a delightful abode, is assigned to the righteous 
who are wholly pure. 

"2. To the Lower Regions are temporarily condemned those 
that must atone for some sins before receiving the reward of 
the blessed. 

"3. Those who, owing to the enormity of their crimes cannot 
be purified, are destined to endless torments in Tartarus, where 
they experience the irrevocable anger of the Deity. ' ' 4 

521. Daniel Huetius thus speaks of the Greeks: 

"They represent the wicked as being plunged into a horrible 
abyss, where they are tormented by most excruciating fires, 
without the least hope of deliverance. ' ' 5 

Besides the poets, who reproduced in their works the common 
ideas and convictions of the people among whom they lived, emi- 
nent philosophers and historians are reckoned as witnesses to 
the popular beliefs and traditions. 

Plato writes : ' ' Such among the departed as have been guilty 
of most grievous crimes will suffer endless torments, as Tantalus, 
Sisyphus, and Tityus, as Homer testifies. ' ' 6 

Plato's striking doctrine on the three classes of departed 
souls and their respective lots, is also set down in his Phaedo. 7 

So greatly were Christian writers impressed with the ortho- 
dox tendency of some of Plato's teachings that they imagined 
that he had come into possession of a Greek copy of the Old 
* Apud Graevium, torn. 12. s De Concordia Fidei et Rationis, 1. 2, c. 24. 
eGorgias, n. 81, p. 386. Paris Ed. Firmin-Didot. 7 Pp. 89-90. Same ed. 



388 Eternal Punishment 

Testament. Though there is no solid foundation for such an 
assertion, still it cannot be doubted that the Jews must have left 
their mark among the Eastern nations, particularly the Egyp- 
tians, with whom they held frequent communications and com- 
mercial intercourse. They must, then, have left there traces 
of the revealed truths which they possessed in the books of Moses 
and the prophets. Now it is well known that Plato traveled to 
Egypt, as he had done to Italy and Sicily, in search of wisdom. 
Clement of Alexandria and Origen, his disciple, believed that 
several thoughts of Plato's dialogues had been borrowed from 
Jewish traditions scattered throughout Egypt. Plato in his 
Phaedo (n. 113) and in his Gorgias (n. 526) insists on the doc- 
trine of future retribution and admits in clear terms the truth 
of eternal punishment: "Those," he writes, "who die after 
committing great crimes, the incorrigibles (insanabiles) fall into 
Tartarus, whence they shall never come out." 8 

The disciples of Pythagoras practised and inculcated humility, 
purity of thought, and a spirit of prayer and reverence toward 
the Deity. They held the doctrine of future state, and chastity 
was to be looked upon as the cardinal virtue of their school. 9 

Plato was not indeed a universalist. He entertained a belief 
in three possible consequences or results of human life, either 
eternal blessedness attainable by those souls that had been puri- 
fied by virtue and philosophy; or a state of purgation before 
they became worthy of happiness ; or a final condemnation with- 
out hope of deliverance from Tartarus, the lot incurred by such 
as were guilty of the most enormous crimes. 10 

One of Plato 's disciples writes : "No one should for the sake 
of a sinful and futile gratification, purchase to himself great 
and perpetual evils, and thus, by a short life, ruin the much 
longer one that is to follow. ' ' 1X 

522. The belief of the Romans is stated by the French his- 
torian Montfacon as follows: "They held that those who were 
thrust into Tartarus [the classic term for hell], could have no 
hope of ever escaping from it ; that they could no longer expiate 
their evil deeds, and that they were to be eternally tormented. ' ' 12 

Virgil, like Homer, holds that the lower Tartaric regions con- 
tain those whose sad doom is irreversible. Thus the vulture 
gnaws the liver of Tityus and his entrails, which grow as fast as 
they are devoured, prolific of penal woes: "Immortale jecur 
tondens foecandaque poenis viscera." 13 

s Phaedo n. 114. 

9 See Life and Labors of St. Thomas Aquinas, by Bede Vaughan, Arch- 
bishop of Sydney. Vol. 2d. p. 635. 

io See Phaedo, 62, 113, 114; Gorgias, 523-525; De Civitate, seu De Re- 
publica, 614, 620. For these additional items on Plato we are indebted to 
Reid's often quoted work on Everlasting Punishment and Modern Specula- 
tion, pages 369, 370. nApud Strabeum, n. 120. 

12 Tom. v, Antiquit. Illustr. n. 137. 1 3 ^Eneid. vi. 



Divinely Revealed 389 

And Theseus, the Athenian monarch, has no chance of escape : 
"Sedit aeternumque sedebit infelix Theseus." 14: 

The poet Lucretius tells of the eternal pains to be endured by 
the wicked after death : 

"Aeternas quoniam poenas in morte timendum." 15 

Ovid writes of Sisyphus that he was condemned to suffer per- 
petual pains for his crimes : 

"Perpetuas patitur poenas." 16 

Similar testimonies are to be found in Propertius (Eleg. 
4), and in Horace's Fourth Book of Odes and other Latin 
poets. 

The prose writers have been quoted on Immortality in Part 
III, Chapter XVIII. 

523. Passing* now to other ancient nations we learn from the 
old historian and geographer, Strabo, that the doctrine of endless 
punishment for the wicked was taught by Zoroaster to the Chal- 
deans, Assyrians, and Babylonians, and this is what he himself 
believed, as related by Strabo : ' ' The dark angel with his fol- 
lowers will be shut up in a dark place to be eternally tormented. 
But the angel of light and his faithful clients will be brought to a 
most bright place and rejoice forever at their great recompense." 
— A belief spread throughout India and Persia. 

The same ancient historian narrates that the Brahmins taught 
the people the doctrine of Plato on the soul 's immortality and its 
endless retribution. (Geog. lib. xiv.) 

According to the testimony of D. Petal, a Jesuit missionary, 
the aboriginal inhabitants of the vast American continent held 
the doctrine of the endless misery awaiting the wicked in the 
next world ; a belief clearly contained in the ceremonial used at 
the funeral rites as testified by the United States Ethnological 
Commission. 

Among the important publications issued by the United States 
Government, there is a volume edited, if I remember correctly, by 
Mr. Powell, President of the Geographical and Ethnological 
Commission, appointed to investigate the religious beliefs of the 
Rocky Mountain Indians and the Eskimos of Alaska as evidenced 
in their funeral rites. 

Abundant testimonies to the truth we are vindicating are scat- 
tered throughout that most valuable production. 

524. As to the belief of the Japanese of the sixteenth century, 
inherited, no doubt, from their ancestors, we possess a most re- 
liable testimony, that of St. Francis Xavier, who, writing to Eu- 
rope about his mission in that distant country, thus speaks of the 
Bonzes, the idolatrous priests: ''Every fortnight they address 
the people and in their speeches they describe the most severe 
pains of hell, and represent its eternal torments on painted charts 

i^^Eneid vi, 598. is De Rerum Natura, lib. 1, 112. 

16 Metamorph. iv. 465. 



390 Eternal Punishment 

so vividly that their hearers give vent to their fright by loud 
lamentations and weepings." 

Moreover, their belief in the continued life of the soul after 
death appears from the fact that to secure to themselves the 
happiness of eternal life, they appeal to their special protector, 
the Deity Amida. 

525. The Mohammedans, as we learn from the Alcoran, their 
sacred book, hold that all unbelievers and apostates from their 
creed, shall be condemned to hell fire forever. 

Prom the above testimonies there arises an unanswerable argu- 
ment in favor of our thesis and a complete refutation of the oppo- 
nents of the Christian dogma we are defending. For here it is 
not a question of a belief pandering to human passions, and there- 
fore easily acceptable to man's corrupt nature, but of a doctrine 
eminently fitted to repress men's evil tendencies, and inspire 
terror and consternation into the mind and heart of all, particu- 
larly of reckless criminals. As to the origin of such universal 
and constant belief, the writers who have studied this question 
are agreed in maintaining that it must be traced to a primitive 
tradition based on divine revelation, a tradition which was spread 
among the different nations and peoples of mankind. This 
tradition, owing particularly to the influence of the Hebrew 
Scriptures, was providentially preserved from heathen mytholog- 
ical error and foreign admixtures which tended to efface it. 

The historian Theodoret thus writes of Plato, who, as we have 
seen, in his Phaedo (n. 62) and Gorgias admits the eternity of 
future punishment: 

"Having gone to Egypt, there he became acquainted with the 
writings of Isaias, brought there by Jewish immigrants and 
perusing them he may have eventually met those striking 
passages : 

" 'Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be 
quenched. ' 17 ' Which of you can dwell with devouring fire ? 
Which of you shall dwell with everlasting burnings?' 18 'For 
Tophet is prepared from yesterday, prepared by the King, deep 
and wide. The nourishment thereof is fire and much wood ; the 
breath of the Lord as a torment of brimstone kindling it. ' " 19 

Thomas, a member of the French Academy (a. d. 1735) con- 
verted to Christianity in his last illness, thus wrote on the neces- 
sity and justice of eternal punishment : 

"Experience proves that this Christian dogma, however ter- 
rible, is not too strong for deterring men from transgressing 
the divine commandments. This penalty, therefore, is emi- 
nently adapted to the wise and merciful end the Supreme Legis- 
lator had in view, which was to supply men with a means that, 
without tampering with their liberty, would prevent disobedi- 
ence to His laws. Being intended for so benevolent a purpose it 

17 Is. lxvi. 24. is Is. xxxiii. 14. i« Id. xxx. 33. 



Divinely Revealed 391 

cannot be unjust. Experience, then, by proving its necessity, 
proves also it justice. ' ' 20 

If we could know all the sins, crimes, and excesses which the 
thought of hell 's eternity has prevented and will prevent even to 
the crack of doom, we would then fully realize the necessity of 
such a sanction. Now it is easy from its necessity to infer its 
actual existence on the principle that God, a most merciful Pro- 
visor, could not fail to furnish to His rational creatures a means 
so efficacious to prevent them from forfeiting their last, happy 
end, everlasting bliss. To those that deny the necessity of a 
punitive sanction Jean Jacques Rousseau gave the following an- 
swer: 

" Philosophers, your morality is very fine indeed; but show 
me, please, what sanction is to enforce it : what have you put in- 
stead of the eternal hell which you reject? " 21 

526. The historian Gibbon, who was no friend of Christianity, 
assigns as one of the reasons of the rapid diffusion of the Chris- 
tian religion, the belief of eternal punishment. 22 We simply 
quote him as a witness to the belief of early Christians in that 
dogma. Cardinal Newman in his " Grammar of Assent' ' ex- 
presses his views on this statement by the antichristian historian 
Gibbon. 

527. As to comparatively modern poetic writers, for brevity's 
sake we confine the reader's attention to only two great poets, 
Dante and Milton, who both dealt with subjects which afforded 
them the occasion to give utterance in sublime verse to their be- 
lief in the eternal duration of the punitive sanction. 

Dante (a. d. 1265). We quote from this most distinguished 
of the Italian poets, the terrible inscription over the gate of hell, 
the Inferno, the first part of his immortal Commedia. The gate 
of hell is thus made to speak : 

' i Through me men go into the city of wailings ; 
Through me men go into endless woe : 
Through me men go to join those lost for aye." 

Then hell itself speaks thus : 

"I was made by Divine Power, 
By Sovereign Wisdom and primeval Love. 
Before me nothing was but things created 
And made to endure forever. 
And I myself shall last eternally. 
All hope abandon ye who enter here." 23 

Here Dante conveys a sound theological truth, when he says 

20 Reflections Philosophiques. 21 Emile. 

22 Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, c. xvi. 23 Canto iii. 4-10. 



392 Eternal Punishment 

that hell was created by the joint action of the Three Persons of 
the Holy Trinity, that is, by the Omnipotence of the Father, the 
Wisdom of the Son, and the Love of the Holy Ghost. 

As commentators remark, hell is the work of Divine Omnipo- 
tence, which thus shows its power to punish the rebellious an- 
gelic spirits, 24 and impenitent human creatures. 25 It is the 
work of Divine Wisdom, which perfectly knows how to propor- 
tion the severity of punishment to the gravity of the offense. It 
is also the work of the Divine Spirit, the Holy Ghost, because of 
His love of good, law, and order, and of the infinite hatred of 
their opposite, sin. Moreover, the poet, undisturbed by the 
sophisms of infidels, past and future, and steadfast in his Chris- 
tian belief, fearlessly proclaims the justice of the eternal pains, 
saying : 

"Justice did move my Supreme Creator." 

Professor Franz Hettinger, in his learned work on Dante's 
Divina Commedia, makes the following judicious remarks: 
"Did Dante himself believe his hell to have a real existence, or 
did he regard it simply as the creation of his imagination, reflect- 
ing as in a mirror the condition of the wicked upon earth ? We 
must make this distinction. The actual images of its torments 
are the poet's own work ; but the idea of the retributive justice of 
God eternally rejecting the impenitent sinner, the notion of the 
punishment varying with the sin are doctrines intimately and 
necessarily bound up in the poet's belief in God and with it 
they stand or fall. Now Dante was a thorough man, but before 
all a thorough Christian. One single mortal sin, therefore, suf- 
fices to plunge even the patriot, the philosopher, the statesman, 
into hell, however distinguished he may have been in life or 
honored in death. The triumph of divine justice before which 
all that is best in man, his feelings of compassion, of love, must 
bow in silence, constitutes the greatness of the Commedia," 26 

We fully endorse the following appreciation of this greatest 
of Italian poets by the renowned French writer Frederic Ozanam : 
"The Divina Commedia is the literary and philosophic Summa 
of the Middle Ages ; and Dante, its author, is the St. Thomas of 
poetry. ' ' 27 

John Milton (a. d. 1608), England's greatest epic poet, thus 
speaks of hell, Satan's abode, in his immortal production, Para- 
dise Lost : 

"Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace 
And rest can never dwell, hope never comes. 
That comes to all ; but torture without end. 
Such place eternal justice hath prepared. 

24 Matt. xxv. 41. 25 Id., xxv. 46. 

26 Dante's Divina Commedia, Its Scope and Value. Edited by Henry 
Sebastian Bowden, of the Oratory, p. 147. 

27 Dante and Catholic Philosophy, p. 356. 



Divinely Revealed 393 

For those rebellious ; here their prison ordained 
In utter darkness. ' ' 28 

We conclude this Seventh Part with quotations from two 
writers who cannot be suspected of being partial to Christianity : 

Diderot (d. 1784) to his soul: "If you abuse your reason you 
will be unhappy, not only in this life, but after death, in hell. ' ' 
Soul : ' ' And who told you there is a hell ? ' ' Diderot : "If you 
have but a doubt, you ought to act as if there was one." Soul: 
' ' And if I am sure that there is none ? ' ' Diderot : "I defy you 
to it." 

Voltaire 's correspondent : ' ' I believe, at last, that I have dis- 
covered' the certainty of the non-existence of hell. ' ' 

Voltaire : ' ' Most happy are you ! I am far from having ar- 
rived at it." 

528. A fiery eternity — short but terrible words. Always to 
burn without hope, without end. Is not such a punishment 
most formidable? Dear reader, think frequently of those ever- 
lasting flames. To escape the danger of falling into them re- 
strain within lawful bounds your evil propensities, keeping them 
subject to the empire of reason and the injunctions of Christian 
Faith. As St. Paul tells us, ' ' they that are Christ 's have cruci- 
fied their flesh with the vices and concupiscences. ' ' 29 

In Psalm liv. verse 16, we read: "Let them go down alive 
into hell." If we descend into hell while living by often medi- 
tating upon it, we shall avoid being condemned to it when dead. 
This is precisely the timely counsel of St. John Chrysostom. 
"No one of those who have hell before their eyes will fall into 
hell. No one of those who despise hell will escape hell. It is a 
great evil to despise a divine threat. He who despises threat- 
ening will soon have experience of it in reality. ' ' 30 

We append a liturgical prayer, which all sincere Christian 
believers should frequently recite. 

HYMNUS — TEMPORE ADVENTUS 

Ut, cum tribunal Judicis 

Damnabit igni noxios, 
Et vox arnica debitum 

Vocabit ad coelum pios, 

Non esca flammarum nigros 

Volvamur inter turbines, 
Vultu Dei sed compotes 

Coeli fruamur gaudiis. 

ADVENT HYMN — MATINS 

That when the judgment-seat on high 
Shall fix the sinner 's doom, 
28 Bk. i. 60-70. 29 Gal. v. 24. 30 Homil. on 1 Thcss. 



394 Eternal Punishment 

And to the just a glad voice cry- 
Come to your destined home ; 

Safe from the black and yawning lake 

Of restless, endless pain, 
We may the face of God partake, 

The bliss of heaven attain. 

— Translation by Cardinal Newman. 

REFERENCES 

Reid: Everlasting Punishment and Modern Speculation. 
Note R, p. 365. 

Nicolas, Auguste: Etudes Philosophiques sur le Christian- 
isme, vol. ii, ch. 8. 

Stewart, D. F., Salmond, M.A., D.D.: The Christian Doc- 
trine of Immortality. Book I — and Appendix. 

Patuzzi : De Futuro Impiorum Statu, pp. 215-390. 



PART VIII 

REMARKS OR PRINCIPLES INTENDED TO 
FACILITATE THE SOLUTION OF DIF- 
FICULTIES AGAINST ETERNAL 
PUNISHMENT 

CHAPTER I 

REMARKS I TO V 

NOTE 

529. Before answering the chief objections, which infidels or 
ill-instructed Christians are wont to advance against the awful 
truth of never-ending punishment to be meted out to the im- 
penitent sinners after death, we shall call the reader's attention 
to a series of remarks, which will, in great measure, contribute 
to strengthen our position and to prepare him to answer the dif- 
ficulties that are generally brought against the truth of the exist- 
ence and eternity of hell. 

We may here premise that the mastering of this subject is 
no child's play; it demands of the reader attentive and earnest 
reflection on the doctrine which it is of vital importance for 
him to know. The hastily scanned page teaches him nothing; 
the acquisition of knowledge in this as well as in other depart- 
ments is the reward of diligent and conscientious application. 

REMARK I 

530. The light of reason shows that among the attributes 
proper to the Deity we must reckon infinite wisdom, justice, and 
goodness. Now, divine revelation, which reason proves to be 
an authentic and reliable record of God's dealings with His ra- 
tional creatures, 1 tells us in the clearest language that God, infi- 
nitely wise, just, and good, has established a double sanction to 
enforce the execution of His laws, viz., the promise of eternal 
happiness to the observers of His laws, and the threat of eternal 
punishment to their transgressors. Hence there follows this 
perfectly logical and inevitable conclusion, that therefore a 
double sanction really exists, which is quite conformable to the 
divine attributes of wisdom, justice, and goodness. This is the 
plain teaching of reason. Shall we say that this same light, com- 
mon to all rational creatures, manifesting itself in the unanimous 
consent of mankind, can find plausible, satisfactory, convincing 
arguments against the eternal duration of the punishment re- 

i See Ch. Apologetics, nn. 149-200. 

395 



396 Illuminating Points of Doctrine 

served to the wicked in the world to come? We give to this 
question a most emphatic negative answer, for the light of reason, 
given us by the infinitely wise and benevolent Creator to lead us 
to the knowledge of truth cannot bring us to error, as long as 
we make a right use of it. And there is what constitutes the 
great misfortune of mankind, to be led to the belief and accept- 
ance of erroneous doctrines and principles, by the preposterous 
use of that very faculty which has been given to men for the 
attainment of truth. 

REMARK II 

531. Right reason can detect no injustice in the fact that God, 
the Supreme Lawgiver and Sovereign Lord, has fixed a certain, 
determined length of time, commensurate with the duration of 
men 's life on earth as the period of their probation, which being 
elapsed, there shall remain no further hope of pardon to sinners. 

And in fact, where, we may ask, could there be any injustice 
in this provision ? Is God Almighty bound always to keep open 
the door of pardon, in order that men may never find closed the 
door of sin? By what right can man exact from God that He 
should never deny pardon to sinners? Where is the obligation 
binding Him never to refuse pardon to the transgressors of His 
laws ? Is forgiveness a matter of justice or rather of mercy ? It 
is true, as we know from divine revelation, that He promised to 
forgive sinners whenever they would repent of their evil deeds 
and seek pardon from His mercy. But these promises are evi- 
dently limited to the present life, as is clearly shown from the 
language of Holy Writ, of both the Old and the New Testaments : 
"It is easy before God, in the day of death to reward every one 
according to his ways." 2 "Behold, now is the acceptable time; 
behold, now is the day of salvation. ' ' 3 " Therefore, whilst we 
have time, let us work good to all men, but especially to those 
who are of the household of the faith." 4 For other similar 
Scriptural testimonies see nn. 182 and 489. 

But were we to suppose that, as some would have us believe, 
there will be for the wicked either pardon or happiness or final 
annihilation, how would the matter look from the standpoint of 
the sinner? Would it not mean his victory over the Almighty, 
and the ultimate triumph of sin? We can believe that man 
may, by a sinful life, wilfully place himself outside the reach of 
God's love and mercy, through his obstinate impenitence; but 
we find it absurd to believe that he can, by an act of his own, 
place himself outside the sphere of God's rule and government, 
and thus escape his eternal destiny. This destiny is the glory of 
God by the exaltation of His divine attributes. Therefore, ra- 
tional creatures must either glorify for all eternity God's mercy 
2 Ecclus. xi. 28. 3 2 Cor. vi. 2. * Gal. vi. 10. 



Available for the Solution of Difficulties 397 

and goodness, by free obedience, or, if rebellious, glorify forever 
God's power and justice by inevitable punishment. (See n. 71.) 

In the English review, The Month, for January, 1882, there 
appeared an article from which we cite the following remarks 
appropriate to our subject : 

"What if the sinner reject all invitations to repentance, and 
wilfully turns aside from God? What if he only hate Him 
more and more, and defy Him with ever-increasing violence and 
audacity? Is God to reward this defiance of His divine majesty 
by opening the door of heaven, and inviting within its portals His 
bitter, unrelenting, rebellious, blaspheming enemy? It is in 
view of this insuperable objection of the Restitution theory (de- 
vised by Universalists ) that the clumsy and gratuitous hypothe- 
sis of annihilation has been invented in order to save the Deity 
from the inconceivable degradation of having to give in to the 
sinner, if only he be sufficiently persistent, thus encouraging sin 
and rewarding revolt. ' ' 

In conclusion, the sinner knows full well from divine revelation 
that, after death, the time of trial ceases, and that consequently 
beyond the tomb there will be no repentance acceptable to Al- 
mighty God, no forgiveness of sin. 

Moreover, from the light of reason and the voice of revelation, 
he knows that man's soul is immortal. Now, if notwithstanding 
this knowledge, he prefers to die in the state of unrepented sin, 
it is evident that he, of his own accord, places himself in a con- 
dition of perpetual, irreconcilable enmity with his Creator and 
Judge. Is there anything unjust or inconsistent with reason if 
the punishment will last as long as the guilt, that is, forever? 
Should not an eternal enemy of God be eternally punished ? The 
rejection of the grace of conversion, namely, resistance to God's 
invitations to repentance, is what the Gospel calls blasphemy 
against the Holy Ghost and everlasting sin. "He that shall 
blaspheme," says Jesus Christ, "against the Holy Ghost, shall 
never have forgiveness, but shall be guilty of an everlasting 
sin. " 5 No wonder, then, if eternal rebellion is to meet eternal 
chastisement. Hence the reason for retribution to-day is a 
reason forever, for the duration of the punishment, to be pro- 
portionate, must be commensurate with that of the transgres- 
sion. The guilt of the divine offense once incurred, is a stand- 
ing, irretrievable fact so long as it has not been effaced by timely 
repentance in this life. 

REMARK III 

532. It is a mistake to suppose that the principal object of 
punishment is to reform the criminal and to restrain him from 
evil-doing. The main purpose of punishment is the restoration 

5 Mark iii. 29. 



398 Illuminating Points of Doctrme 

or vindication of moral order violated by sin and the reparation 
of the outrage done to divine Majesty by the sinner, who, after 
offending his Creator and Supreme Benefactor, obstinately per- 
severes in his state of enmity to the bitter end. The execution 
of justice, then, is the first and primary consideration and con- 
stitutes the very essence of punishment. Even the penalty that 
is inflicted according to human laws, is not always medicinal to 
him that is punished, but to others, as when a murderer is hanged, 
not for his own reform, but to deter others from crime. "The 
wicked man being scourged," says Holy Writ, "the fool shall 
be wiser. " 6 So then also the everlasting punishment of the 
reprobate, inflicted by God is medicinal to those who reflecting 
upon it refrain from sin, its cause. 7 

' ' That conscience supports endless retribution is also evidenced 
by the universality and steadiness of the dread of it. Mankind 
believe in hell, as they believe in God's existence, by reason of 
their moral sense. Notwithstanding all the attacks made by un- 
believers upon the tenet in every generation, men do not get 
rid of the fear of future punishment. Skeptics themselves are 
sometimes distressed by it. But a permanent and general fear 
among mankind cannot be produced by a mere chimera or a pure 
figment of the imagination. The very denial of endless retri- 
bution evinces, by its spasmodic eagerness and efforts to disprove 
the tenet, the firmness with which it is entrenched in man 's moral 
constitution. If there really were no hell, absolute indifference 
toward the notion would long since have been the mood of all 
mankind, and no arguments, either for or against it, would be 
constructed. ' ' 8 

Some people think they abolished hell by ceasing to believe 
in it. May God's mercy grant to them the grace to renounce 
this illusion before it is too late ! 

The justice of eternal punishment, inflicted on those that die 
guilty of mortal sin, is proved as follows : 

It is a principle of jurisprudence, sanctioned by reason, that 
a penalty, to be just, should be proportioned to the malice or 
wickedness of the unlawful, sinful act: a malice or wickedness 
which grows in proportion to the dignity, majesty, and au- 
thority of the person offended. God, whose law is transgressed 
by the sinner, is a being of supreme dignity and majesty, who 
possesses an infinite right or claim to the obedience of men. 
Hence the sin or act by which they rebel against Him, involves 
a malice or wickedness that is respectively (respective) infinite, 
inasmuch as it injures a God of infinite majesty, and contains the 
actual, contemptuous rejection of His infinite right to men's sub- 
mission. Though the sinner may not contest such a right in 

6 Prov. xix. 25. 

7 See Aquinas Ethieus by Joseph Rickaby, S.J., vol. 1. p. 255, n. 2. 

s From North American Review, vol. cxl. article on Endless Punishment, 
by William G. D. Shedd. 



Available for the Solution of Difficulties 399 

words, yet he practically denies it in action. Now reason tells 
us that the greater and more sacred the right violated by an 
offense, the severer must be its penalty in intensity or in dura- 
tion. Here it is a question of an offense against an infinite God, 
which should accordingly be punished by an infinite penalty. 
But such a penalty cannot be infinite in intensity for two reasons. 
First, because no finite creature can be affected by anything infi- 
nite, that is, in an infinite manner. Secondly, because, if the 
penalty were infinite in intensity, the reprobates could not be 
punished in proportion to the gravity and number of their sins, 
as the penalty intensively infinite would be equally severe for 
all, for there cannot be greater or less in infinity. This would 
evidently be against distributive justice, a proceeding impos- 
sible on the part of the Supreme Judge. Hence the punish- 
ment to be proportionate to the guilt that implies an infinite 
malice or gravity, as explained above, must be likewise infinite, 
at least, in duration, and therefore eternal. 

We may also say that a just proportion between the offense 
and the penalty lies in this, that the penalty is entitatively 
(entitative) infinite, for it involves the loss of God, an infinite 
good. The same truth is shown under Eemark IV by a sub- 
stantially similar argument, though differently expressed. 

EEMARK IV 

533. The Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas, in several parts of his 
classical work, the Summa Theologica, argues substantially as 
follows: The principles of sound reason require that there 
should be a just, equitable proportion between the crime and its 
punishment, which we find completely verified in the penalty 
inflicted on the reprobate. In fact, every grievous or deadly 
sin contains in itself a kind of infinite malice, which calls for a 
retribution in some manner infinite. But such retribution or 
chastisement cannot be infinite in intensity, because the creature 
is incapable of an infinite effect ; therefore it must be infinite in 
duration. Hence, the reason why the pains of hell, to bear a just 
proportion to the creature's rebellion against its Maker should 
be, as they actually are, eternal. For in sin two things are to be 
considered, its relation to God, and its relation to creatures. 
Considered under the first aspect it implies an infinite disorder, 
it is an act of measureless malice, for it is an insult against a 
Being of infinite dignity; it is an outrage against an infinite 
Majesty, and a supreme contempt of the natural and divine laws, 
and of the Sovereign Lawgiver, the Lord of the Universe. Sin, 
considered under the second aspect, viz., as to its relation to crea- 
tures, which the sinner prefers to infinite good, the Creator, is 
evidently finite both because the creatures are finite, and the act of 
preferring them to God, the Creator, is also finite. And this is 
the reason why the punishment of sin should, in order to be just, 



400 Illuminating Points of Doctrme 

be both finite and infinite. It is therefore finite in its intensity, 
and thus it can be proportionate to the guilt of the sinner; but 
it is infinite in duration, otherwise there would not be the re- 
quired proportion between the crime and its punishment. 9 

To show that a grievous, deadly sin makes the offender liable to 
eternal punishment, the Angelic Doctor reasons thus: Sin in- 
curs liability to punishment by this, that it is the subversion of 
the moral order established by Divine Wisdom for the govern- 
ment and welfare of mankind. Now, so long as the subversion, 
or violation of order remains, the liability to punishment must 
remain, for the effect will last as long as the cause producing it 
will last. Order may be subverted reparably or irreparably. If 
it involves the withdrawal of an essential principle it is irre- 
parable. But if the principle itself is untouched, then it may 
be repaired. A simple illustration will explain our statement. 
If the principle of sight, the organ itself, is lost, that is, totally 
destroyed, only divine power can restore it. But if it remains 
intact and only accidental hindrances to vision occur, they may 
be removed by nature or by medical aid. What happens when 
a divine command is deliberately transgressed and a mortal sin 
committed? The human will, by its rebellion, violates the or- 
der requiring its subjection to the divine will, and becomes 
thereby guilty of an inordinateness which is of itself irreparable. 
The sins, therefore, that turn men away from God, and make 
them His enemies by taking away charity, bring on of them- 
selves, liability to endless punishment. As God's power can 
miraculously restore the organ of sight itself, so He can, by His 
omnipotent grace, repair a moral disorder that is in itself irrep- 
arable. But this, according to His divine ordinance, He accom- 
plishes only in the present life, when the merits of Christ are 
available for the conversion of sinners. Hence, if no applica- 
tion of the merits of Christ is made in this world, as it happens 
with those who die impenitent, the disorder remains irrepar- 
able for all eternity; and consequently for all eternity shall 
last the punishment caused by and due to that irreparable dis- 
order. 10 

REMARK V 

534. 1. The eternity of torments is asserted by various texts 
which all explicitly describe them as everlasting. Thus hell's 
punishment is called by the prophet Isaias 1X and by St. Mat- 
thew 12 everlasting burnings and everlasting fire : by the prophet 
Daniel 13 everlasting reproach : by St. Paul 14 eternal punish- 
ment: by St. Jude 15 everlasting chains and eternal fire. 

As no other text from Holy Writ, and no valid reason can be 

9 See Card. Mazzella, De Deo Creante, pp. 844-850. 

io la 2ae, qu. 87, art. 3. Aquinas Ethicus, vol. i, p. 254. 

ii Is. xxxiii. 14. 12 Matt. iii. 12. is Dan. xii. 2. 

1*2 Thess. i. 9. 1 5 Jude 6, 7. 



Available for the Solution of Difficulties 401 

adduced to prove that the preceding testimonies should not be 
taken in their literal, obvious sense, we are fully justified in con- 
cluding that they indicate a duration without end. 

2. The eternity of torments is demonstrated by texts which 
plainly deny their termination or end. Thus St. John the Bap- 
tist, referring to God's judgment of the wicked, says that "the 
chaff will be burned with unquenchable fire" 16 and Christ Him- 
self, speaking of the reprobate, says that "their worm [or in- 
delible sin, or remorse] dieth not and the fire is not extin- 
guished." 17 Could clearer language be employed to signify end- 
less duration ? 

3. The eternity of torments is pointed out by the Scriptural 
sentences which compare the duration of the reward with that 
of the punishment. This comparison is exhibited in the clear- 
est manner by these words of Jesus Christ: "And these [the 
wicked] shall go into everlasting punishment ; but the just into 
life everlasting." 18 The same final issue of the just and the 
wicked is conveyed by the prophet Daniel in the following terms : 
"And many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall 
awake: some into life everlasting, and others unto reproach to 
see it always," or, according to the Theodosian version, "some 
shall awake unto life eternal; others unto eternal reproach and 
confusion. " 19 

It is plain that the inspired words of both the Old and the 
New Testaments proclaim the undeniable fact that the punish- 
ment of the wicked shall last as long as the recompense of the 
just, that is, for eternity. 20 

4. The eternity of torments is proved by the Biblical testi- 
monies which deny to the reprobates all hope of future redemp- 
tion, liberation or forgiveness. These are the words of Christ 
Himself: "He that shall speak against the Holy Ghost, it 
shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world 
to come. ' ' 21 

5. The eternity of torments is clearly established by those 
passages of Holy Writ which deny to the bad angels all hope of 
future liberation. Here is what St. Paul says of Christ as 
Saviour and Redeemer: "Nowhere doth He take hold of the 
angels, but of the seed of Abraham He taketh hold ; 22 viz., as 
explained by Cornelius a Lapide after St. Bernard, 23 Christ 
did not come upon earth to save the fallen angels, whose nature 
He did not assume. Now we know from Christ's sentence on 
the last judgment, described by Himself, that the lot of the 
wicked men and of the rebel angels will be one and the same — 
"Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, which was 
prepared for the devil and his angels. ' ' 24 

is Matt. iii. 12. " Mark ix. 43. is Matt. xxv. 46 is Dan. xii. 2. 

20 See St. Augustine's comment on Matt. xxv. 46, given below (n. 546). 

21 Matt. xii. 32. 22 Heb. ii. 16. 23 Vol. xix. p. 376, Vives ed. 
24 Matt. xxv. 41. 



402 Illuminating Points of Doctrine 

CHAPTER II 

REMAKES VI TO X 

REMARK VI 

535. Professor William G. T. Shedd in his very able article, 
"The Certainty of Endless Punishment," referring to David- 
son, whom he styles the most learned of English rationalistic 
critics, quotes from him the following passage, which calls for 
some comments at our hand : " If a specific sense be attached to 
words, never-ending misery is enumerated in the Bible. On the 
presumption that one doctrine is taught, it is the eternity of hell 's 
torments. Bad exegesis may attempt to banish it from the 
New Testament Scripture, but it is still there, and expositors 
who wish to get rid of it, as Canon Farrar does, injure the cause 
they have in view by misrepresentation. It must be allowed that 
the New Testament record not only makes Christ assert ever- 
lasting punishment, but Paul and John. ' ' 1 

536. Here are some valuable admissions on the part of our 
English rationalistic critic : 

First: That the Biblical announcement of hell's eternity 
can be denied only by those who "attach no specific sense to 
words." Here we ask, what becomes of language, whether 
written or spoken, if the words used to convey the inner thought 
contain no meaning whatever? Is it not supremely absurd to 
suppose that God's revelation in Holy Writ was intended to 
convey no specific information to men, on whose behalf it was 
made? We must then attach a specific meaning to the Scrip- 
tural sentences proclaiming the nature and duration of punish- 
ment of the wicked in the next world, and the obvious meaning 
is, as he himself says, that the punishment is real as well as 
eternal. 

Secondly : According to the view of the same writer, it is only 
by bad exegesis — that is, erroneous interpretation — and by wilful 
misrepresentation that expositors attempt to banish hell's 
eternity from the New Testament Scripture. Therefore correct 
interpretation of the Biblical record, and unbiased judgment will 
lead us to the opposite result, viz., to the admission of the end- 
less duration of hell's torments. 

Our rationalist, then, consistently with his theories, adds: 
"But the question should be looked at from a larger platform 
than single texts, in the light of God 's attributes, and the nature 
of the soul. The destination of man, and the Creator's infinite 
goodness, conflicting, as they do, with everlasting punishment, 
remove it from the sphere of rational belief. ' ' 

i North American Review, vol. cxl, for 1885. 



Available for the Solution of Difficulties 403 

We cannot remove the tenet of hell's eternity from the sphere 
of rational belief for the following reasons : 

First: Because it is a revealed truth and there cannot be 
any conflict between the voice of human reason and that of divine 
revelation, for they both spring from the same source — God, 
eternal, immutable truth, the Creator of reason and the Author 
of revelation. 

Secondly: Because reason is unable, as experience shows, to 
refute any of the arguments generally brought in support of the 
doctrine in question. 

Thirdly: Because reason actually alleges many powerful 
arguments to prove the necessity as well as the justice of the 
eternal sanction of God's Holy Laws. 

The most absurd statement of Mr. Davidson is the last, where 
he says: "If provision be not made in revelation for a change 
of moral character after death, it is made in reason. Philos- 
ophical considerations must not be set aside even by Scripture. ' ' 

537. In the first place, our learned Doctor here assumes as 
granted what is to be proved, that men, who have failed to attain 
their true destiny, heavenly happiness, in the trial of this world, 
are going to be submitted to another probation in the next. See 
refutation of this assumption in Eemark II. 

He also supposes that the principal object of punishment is 
the reformation of the criminal; a theory utterly false and con- 
futed above in Kemark III. 

Moreover, does it belong to the creature, or to the Creator, to 
the subjects or to the Lord, to enact laws and secure their execu- 
tion by appropriate sanction? Therefore the provision for the 
right government of the moral world is to be made and has 
actually been made, not by human reason but by Him who is to 
judge the acts of rational creatures and either to reward or to 
punish them according to their deserts. 

538. We are pleased to conclude this remark with the follow- 
ing thoughtful reflections of Professor Shedd, whose views are, 
like ours, entirely opposed to the flippant assertions and gratui- 
tous assumptions of the rationalistic English critic : 

"So long, then, as the controversy is carried on by an appeal 
to the Bible, the defender of endless retribution has compara- 
tively an easy task. But when the appeal is made to human 
feeling and sentiment, or to ratiocination, the demonstration re- 
quires more effort. And yet the doctrine is not only Biblical, 
but rational. It is defensible on the basis of sound ethics and 
pure reason. Nothing is requisite for its maintenance but the 
admission of three cardinal truths of theism, namely, that there 
is a just God , that man has free will, and that sin is voluntary 
action. If these are denied, there can be no defense of endless 
punishment, and the result will be no other doctrine except 
atheism and its corollaries. ' ' 



404 Illuminating Points of Doctrine 

Our readers cannot but be convinced that those truths are 
fully demonstrated by the process of reasoning, and constitute 
the adamantine foundation sustaining the reasonableness, jus- 
tice, and wisdom of eternal punishment. 

REFERENCES 

See Bergier— Dictionnaire Theologique; a French standard 
work of great repute ; vol. ii, p. 438, and cited notes. 

REMARK VII 

The inspired writer describes in the Book of Wisdom, 2 the 
fruitless repentance of the wicked in the next world. From 
within the lost soul there ever arises the cold, clear, inevitable 
verdict of self-condemnation and useless self-reproach. It 
writhes in convulsive paroxysm of self-detestation, and self- 
loathing. No hand can help, no thought can brighten, no will 
can love, no heart can pity it. To increase and intensify its 
horrible sufferings, are added the haunting memories, the vivid 
recollection of what would then be its lot if it had heeded the 
voice of grace calling it to repentance; how easily God's friend- 
ship might have been regained; how gently the good shepherd, 
in the person of God's minister, stooped, toiled, labored and 
entreated to save it from perdition; how often the tender arms 
of divine mercy would have been folded around it with fond 
caresses and a power enabling it to conquer all temptations and 
overcome all opposition. But, alas! the perverse, obstinate will 
struggled against grace, fought against love's last appeal at the 
dying bed and flung away the blood that could have cleansed 
it from all iniquity and safely landed it on the shores of eternal 
bliss. But there is yet more. A soul that has fixed itself on 
evil, must still, by the essential bent of its being, gravitate with 
resistless attraction toward God, the light of perfect knowledge, 
and the center of infinite good. Yet that unhappy soul can 
never appease its burning thirst for knowledge at the fountain 
of divine wisdom, nor satiate its yearning for happiness at the 
sight of the peerless beauty of the Lord of Majesty. As the 
distinguished philosopher, Leibnitz (d. 1716) remarks: "Those 
who die in mortal sin would, of their own accord, bury them- 
selves in hell to avoid the presence of the infinite holiness of 
that God, whom they, by their transgressions have made hate- 
ful to themselves." Who can describe the miseries of a soul 
left to itself, abandoned by God, His angels and saints, and 
hated by the devils and its companions in torments ! The whole 
nature of that soul is there with all its natural endowments, its 
spiritual faculties, its appetites and cravings; yet without their 
objects, thirsting forever for a good that will never come ; never 
consumed, because immortal; longing for total extinction; for 

2 Wis. v. 3, 4, 6, 7, 14. 



Available for the Solution of Difficulties 405 

death that shall ever flee from it. "And in those days men 
shall seek death, and shall not find it; and they shall desire to 
die, and death shall fly from them." 3 

REMARK VIII 

539. It is indeed to be regretted that the strange imagination 
of some people, poets, artists, and even ascetic writers and 
preachers, when referring to hell's torments, indulge in details 
and descriptions that have no warrant in Holy Writ. But is 
the Catholic Church responsible for these unauthorized views? 
By no means; she is answerable only for her official dogmatic 
teachings, which are thus briefly summed up concerning the mat- 
ter at issue. 

I. Hell exists, created by God's justice to punish the rebel 
angels and impenitent sinful human creatures. 4 

II. Hell is a place of torments, comprising the pain of sense 
and that of loss incurred immediately after death in mortal 
sin. 5 

III. The penalty of hell is incurred by all who die in the state 
of grievous, personal sin, 6 and is inflicted immediately after 
death. 

IV. The torments of the damned are eternal. 7 

There is the dogma — whatever else may be said by writers or 
preachers is not of faith, because not dogmatically defined. 
However, what we do know from divine revelation, and from 
the voice of its authorized, infallible interpreter, the Catholic 
Church, is that hell's torments are real, awful, eternal, and in- 
curred immediately after death in unretr acted mortal sin. Is 
not this terrible? And what more do we require to impress us 
with salutary fear of God's judgments? Rightfully, there- 
fore, did Diderot (d. 1784) write: "A sensible man will act in 
life as though there was a hell, so long as even one only fragment 
of doubt remains in his mind. ' ' And what, I say, should man 's 
conduct be, when he reflects that the voice of divine revelation, 
the whole of Christendom, the promptings of reason and the 
universal consent of mankind unanimously proclaim the ex- 
istence and endless duration of that punishment, thus removing 
all doubts as to the existence and eternal duration of that fearful 
punitive sanction, which the Omnipotent Judge has placed upon 
His laws? 

REMARK IX 

540. It must ever be borne in mind that everlasting punish- 
ment is only intended for what St. Thomas calls certa malitia, a 
determined, known malice, deliberately intended and willed. 
Three conditions, then, must be verified to make a rational crea- 

3 Apoc. ix. 6. * Matt. xxv. 41. 

s Matt. xxv. 41 ; Mark ix. 42, 48 ; Luke xvi. 22. See Part vi. c. v. 

e Benedict xii. a. d. 1336. 7 Matt. xxv. 46. 



406 Illuminating Points of Doctrine 

ture guilty of mortal, deadly sin, and render it amenable to an 
endless punishment. There must be sufficient knowledge or 
advertence of the mind, untrammeled freedom of the will, and 
grave matter. The last condition occurs when the object of the 
act, its end or the circumstances that accompany it, or the con- 
sequences that follow from it, are of a serious nature. If any 
of the above conditions are wanting, the sin may be only venial, 
or there may be no sin at all. The God of all justice cannot pun- 
ish with eternal exclusion from His presence any of His crea- 
tures not guilty of a grievous offense. He will make every allow- 
ance for antecedent passion, for ignorance, or inadvertence. Let 
it be said once more, the fiat of eternal death issues from the will, 
not of the Creator, but of the creature, who prefers darkness 
to light, and deliberately rejects the love that would but failed 
to win him. I make my own the pathetic words with which 
Fr. Faber closes his discussion on the relative number of the 
saved: "As to those who may be lost, I confidently believe 
that our Heavenly Father threw His arms around each created 
spirit, and looked it full in the face with bright eyes of love in 
the darkness of its mortal life, and that of its own deliberate 
will it would not have Him. ' ' 8 One thing we are sure of, with 
a happy divine assurance, that no heart which turns to God by 
true repentance, however late the hour may be, can be separated 
from Him forever. "A contrite and humbled heart, O God, 
Thou wilt not despise. ' ' 9 

REMARK X 

541. In our struggles against temptations we should ever 
remember that nothing is weaker than man, if left to him- 
self, but that nothing is stronger than man if assisted by God's 
grace. "I can do all things," says St. Paul, "in Him who 
strengthened me. " 10 " Our sufficiency is from God. ' ' 1X The 
Catholic theologian must always be prepared to repel the 
utterly false and blasphemous charge of unbelievers who are 
wont to represent God as imposing on His creatures burdens 
too heavy to bear, and exposing them to temptations which 
are practically insurmountable to human frailty. Their wicked 
purpose is to insinuate God's injustice in condemning sin- 
ners to hell. This impious accusation was made by the 
Arab Averroes, a Mohammedan, who said: "Lex Chris- 
tianorum, lex impossibilium" — "The law of Christians is the 
law of impossibles." This dictum is directly contradicted by 
our Divine Saviour in His Gospel : ' ' My yoke is sweet and My 
burden light, " 12 and by the apostle St. John, who writes : ' ' His 
[God's] commandments are not heavy." 13 This same truth 
was proclaimed by the lawgiver Moses to his people, the Isra- 

s The Creator and the Creature, p. 388. » Ps. 1. 19. 

loPhilipp. iv. 13. « 2 Cor. iii. 5. 12 Matt. xi. 30. is l John v. 3. 



Available for the Solution of Difficulties 407 

elites, in the plainest language: "This commandment that I 
command thee this day is not above thee, nor far off from thee. 
But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy 
heart, that thou mayst do it. ' ' 14 

Jesus Christ is a most wise and considerate legislator, not a 
domineering master. It is a downright insult to assert that He 
has imposed on us duties, which we cannot fulfil. Yet, as has 
been shown in our Part I, the neglect of our sacred obligation, 
the non-observance of His law, entails the loss of our last end, 
and makes the transgressors liable to endless infernal pains. 
We may confidently affirm that God in His dealings with His 
creatures cannot and will not depart one hair's breadth from the 
rule of strict justice, always leaning on the side of mercy and 
benevolence. This cheering truth has been revealed by the Lord 
Himself, both in the Old and in the New Testament. "The 
Lord is sweet to all," writes the Psalmist, "and His tender mer- 
cies are over all His works." 15 "And mercy exalteth itself 
above judgment. ' ' 16 

St. Jerome says of the law of the Gospel that it commands 
things indeed perfect but not impossible. Thus to the command- 
ment, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," Jesus Christ adds, 
that man must not look upon a woman with a lustful desire. 17 
Some one would say, Oh, how difficult! We say, on the con- 
trary, how perfect! How wise and reasonable; for it is easier 
to nip the first bud of sinful desire than to pull off the bough 
when it has grown. And it is precisely this additional injunc- 
tion that facilitates the observance of the command. A similar 
remark can be applied to all the other prescriptions, with which 
Christ surrounded the divine law. 

It is only from a human, fallible judge that we may fear the 
condemnation of the innocent; hence, it is no little relief to 
know that the final verdict as to our eternal lot is to be pro- 
nounced by Him who is more than a man, by the Incarnate Son 
of the living God; by Him, I say, who, being infinitely wise, 
cannot mistake the guilty for the innocent ; by Him who, being 
infinitely just, cannot inflict a punishment greater than the 
sinner deserves; by Him, who, being infinitely perfect, cannot 
be swayed by passion or controlled by revenge. 

542. To inculcate this truth Bishop Vaughan in his excellent 
book, "Earth to Heaven," makes use of this apposite illustra- 
tion: He represents the several pleadings put forth by a con- 
demned soul at the judgment seat: "Driven back from one 
excuse to another, it will, at last, have recourse to the plea of 
weakness, and human frailty. 'I yielded to sin, because my in- 
clinations to evil and my passions were so strong. I was al- 
lured and seduced by the resistless attractions of vice and the 
enticing pleasures of the flesh. Temptations were so persistent 

I* Deut. xxx. 11, 14. is Ps. cxliv. 9. " James ii. 13. i? Matt. v. 28. 



408 Illuminating Points of Doctrine 

and so difficult to cope with. ' But will excuses like these rescue 
the guilty soul from its fate? Christ, its Judge, will reply: 
* Truly, you are weak, when left to yourself, for, as I said in My 
Gospel, without Me you can do nothing available for salvation. 
But My grace is all powerful and could make you immeasurably 
stronger than all your passions and the enemies of your soul. 
Nothing is weaker than man when left to himself, nothing 
stronger when I am with him. Hence, when I was asked by My 
disciples: "Who then can be saved?'' I answered: "The 
things that are impossible with men, are possible with God. ' ' 18 
Though you knew all this, did you ask for My grace? Did you 
pray with faith and earnestness? Did you make use of the 
means of strength which I have put within your reach? Did 
you frequent the sacraments? Did you feed and grow strong 
on the food of angels ? — My own body and blood received in Holy 
Communion? If not, what right have you to complain? You 
wicked servant, out of your own mouth I condemn you. What 
more could I have done for you? I died to save you, and yet 
you are lost. ' ' ' 

Among the mysteries of human life is the abyss of malice, into 
which some rebellious creatures obstinately plunge. Some such 
individuals are so fixed in the spirit of revolt that, when the 
alternative is before them, either submission to God with eternal 
happiness as its reward or resistance to His will, with everlasting 
reprobation as its consequence, they deliberately choose the latter 
fate. We read in the life of St. Francis Borgia, S. J., that once, 
while he was praying at the bedside of a dying sinner, he saw 
the crucifix he held before the dying man hold out its arms to- 
ward him and heard it beg of him in tones of tenderness and 
love not to reject the proffered mercy. But the hardened sinner 
turned his head away with an expression of aversion and despair, 
thus closing his criminal life with final impenitence. Will any 
one blame the Supreme Judge for allotting to that obdurate soul 
the destiny which it had itself freely chosen before departing 
from this world ? And will he not be compelled to admit that he 
and he alone is the guilty author of his own irreparable woe? 

"Adsum qui feci, 

In me convertite ferrum." 19 
"I am guilty, 

Turn against me the sword." 

"Luke xviii. 26, 27. i» Petronius, Satyr. 103. 



Available for the Solution of Difficulties 409 

CHAPTER III 
REMARKS XI TO XV 

REMARK XI 

543. As God manifests His infinite love of righteousness and 
holiness by promising and bestowing an unending reward for 
acts of holiness and virtue done in the state of grace, so He mani- 
fests His infinite hatred of evil by inflicting unending punish- 
ment on the guilt of grievous sin, if not repented of in the pres- 
ent life. Without this man could never form an idea of God's 
infinite hatred of sin. A temporary hell would leave mankind 
under the impression that God's hatred for sin is not infinite 
but limited. Let us suppose for argument 's sake that the theory 
of the Restitutionists should be true, namely, that after the ex- 
piration of the time assigned for the expiation of sin, every sin- 
ner, even the most obdurate, should be admitted to the company 
of the blessed. What would then be our conception of God? 
The eternity of bliss allotted to the just would indeed proclaim 
God 's infinite love of holiness and virtue ; but a temporary hell 
would proclaim God's limited hatred of evil; hence the great 
moral principle of divine justice hating sin eternally and im- 
measurably would be hidden from the eyes of man. Only an 
eternal hell can evidence, assert, and proclaim God's infinite 
hatred of sin. It cries out to mankind, to see what it is to lose 
God; to be forever deprived of the presence of Him who is the 
source of all good, of all happiness and joy ! It proclaims most 
eloquently and convincingly the value God sets on obedience to 
His commands; hence, a grievous disobedience, if not repented 
of and canceled in this life, deserves an eternal chastisement 
in the next. 

REMARK XII 

544. One of the greatest benefits conferred by God on man was 
to supply him with a very effective means for avoiding his most 
fatal evil, deadly sin; and this is done by the divine threat of 
hell against those who commit it. 

Theologians prove that the existence of hell, far from being an 
evil for man in the present life, is, on the contrary, a real good. 
It furnishes an additional proof of God's provident love for His 
rational creatures. In the course of this work, on more than one 
occasion we have pointed out and demonstrated the fact that 
mortal sin is the greatest of all evils, and in a true sense an in- 
finite evil. All other evils are limited; this alone is unlimited 
in its disastrous consequences here and hereafter. It turns men 
into rebels, enemies of God, whose offenses no human or angelic 
atonement can expiate independently of Christ's redeeming 



410 Illuminating Points of Doctrine 

blood. Holy Scripture says: "They that commit sin and 
iniquity are enemies to their own soul." 1 All other evils call 
for pity and compassion; sin alone calls for genuine, unmiti- 
gated hatred. "Thou, O Lord, hatest all the workers of 
iniquity/' 2 "To God the wicked and his wickedness are hate- 
ful alike." 3 Now, sin, being so great an evil, is it not clear that 
the greatest benefit God could confer on man was to supply him 
with an effective means of escaping from its deadly plague— a 
means which, without tampering with his liberty, could furnish 
him with a motive powerful enough to deter him from com- 
mitting sin? God, indeed, will not force man's freedom; He 
will not take away from him that precious, though perilous gift. 
Yet He does warn him with a warning so terrible that nothing 
else could be more efficient to keep the monster of sin at a dis- 
tance, and to strengthen him against its assaults. The language 
of our Blessed Saviour, mingled with tenderness and menace, 
clearly tells us that we should look upon the existence of hell's 
awful penalty as a distinctive benefit to the fallen human race. 
"And I say to you, My friends: Be not afraid of them who 
kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But 
I will show you whom you shall fear : Fear ye Him, who after 
He hath killed, hath power to cast into hell. Yea, I say to you, 
fear Him. ' ' 4 

Such words, coming from the lips of Incarnate Wisdom itself, 
give us a salutary glimpse into the unseen world and cannot fail 
to strike terror into the boldest sinner in whose soul there yet 
lingers a spark of Christian faith. 

545. God bids us to be convinced of and firmly believe in the 
reality of future punishment, that the recollection of this terrific 
truth may deter us from sin in the dangerous moments of temp- 
tation and spur us on to courage and perseverance in the ardu- 
ous path of virtue. Human life has its critical moments, when 
higher motives, inspired by the love of God and the hope of re- 
ward, seem to be shorn of their power to influence our evil pro- 
pensities and carnal minds. The attractions of sin are, at times, 
actually bewitching and intoxicating. Then it is that, if we 
mean to conquer, we must summon to our aid the thought of 
the eternity of torments, compared with which all earthly suf- 
ferings are as a drop in the ocean. Might not the next violation 
of God's law fill the measure of the sinner's iniquities, and in- 
stantly plunge him into the dread abyss? Who can assure him 
of the contrary? Are there not such things as sudden and un- 
provided deaths? 

From all these reflections we rightly conclude that endless 
punishment is not purely vindictive; it does not merely avenge 
the outraged majesty of the Lord ; it is moreover a most power- 
ful deterrent from sin. It is safe to say that the meditation on 

i Tob. xii. 10. 2 p s . v. 7. s Wis. xiv. 9. * Luke xii. 4, 5. 



Available for the Solution of Difficulties 411 

hell has landed more souls into heaven than that of any other 
Christian truth. 

REMARK XIII 

546. It is frequently urged by our adversaries that both the 
adjective "eternal," and the word "eternity," occurring in 
many passages of Holy Writ, simply mean a long but not an end- 
less duration. We answer by simply recalling the words of 
Christ, as found registered in St. Matthew's Gospel: "And 
these [the wicked] shall go into everlasting punishment ; but the 
just, into life everlasting. ' ' 5 Here all agree that by life ever- 
lasting promised to the just is meant an endless life. On what 
ground can any sensible man maintain that the term "everlast- 
ing, ' ' applied to punishment, bears an altogether different mean- 
ing, and signifies not an eternal, but a temporary duration? In 
a matter of such extremely vital importance, namely, the deter- 
mination of the final lot to be assigned to each human creature, 
according to his deserts, was our Divine Lord Jesus Christ, the 
Supreme Judge, at liberty to use equivocal language and thus 
lead us inevitably into error by giving two opposite meanings to 
the same identical word? But what is evidently absurd, has 
actually been said and written by the so-called Restitutionists, 
who hold that the word "everlasting" in the above-mentioned 
text, when applied to punishment, means only a limited dura- 
tion. This is indeed a very old error, for St. Augustine refutes 
it in the following stringent logic: "We have here in the Re- 
deemer's language, on one side, eternal life, on the other eternal 
punishment. Now to say that in one and the same sentence life 
eternal shall be without end, and that punishment eternal shall 
have an end, would be absurd. ' ' 6 Moreover, according to the 
well-known rule of interpretation, the Scriptural terms that im- 
ply a duration without end must be taken in their obvious, proper 
sense whenever the contrary meaning cannot be inferred from the 
context, and the proper literal meaning is not in conflict with 
any other divinely revealed truth. Though the dogma of eternal 
punishment is also distinctly stated in the pages of the Old Testa- 
ment, as we have already shown, yet it is to the final and fullest 
revelation of God in the New Testament that we naturally turn 
for the most explicit information on this momentous question. 
"God who in sundry times and in divers manners spoke in 
times past to the fathers by the prophets, last of all, in these days 
hath spoken to us by His Son." 7 Nor shall we turn in vain. 
The Rev. J. Riddell, the best Greek Oxford scholar of his day, in 
a special essay prepared at the request of his friend Dr. Pusey, 
proves that the adjective "eternal" in classical Greek is used 
strictly of eternity, of an eternal existence, such as shall be when 
time shall be no more. 8 When referring to the future this term 
is nowhere used in the New Testament, except of eternal life or 

s Matt. xxv. 46. 6 De Civit. Dei. xxi. 23. 7 Heb. i. 1, 2. s Apoc. x. 6. 



412 Illuminating Points of Doctrine 

eternal punishment. 9 Nothing is further from the truth than 
the assertion of unbelievers who, to render odious the dogma of 
the reprobates ' damnation, held that God creates a large number 
of souls for the express purpose of damning them. It is the old 
blasphemy of the Manicheans against original sin; a blasphemy 
repeated by the Pelagian heretics and revived in the cruel Cal- 
vinian creed. Holy Scripture teaches us, on the contrary, that 
God creates human souls through love for His honor and glory, 
and to make them partakers of His own infinite happiness. 
' ' Thou, Lord, lovest all things that are, and hatest none of the 
things which thou hast made. But thou sparest all, because they 
are Thine, O Lord, who lovest souls. ' ' 10 

"Who [God, our Saviour] will have all men to be saved and 
to come to the knowledge of the truth. ' ' X1 

The Second Council of Orange, approved by Rome, anathema- 
tized those who held that God has, by His sovereign power, pre- 
destined some of His rational creatures to evil, and consequently 
to final reprobation. 12 A fuller answer to this difficulty is given 
in Part IX. 

547. It is admitted on all sides that the abolishing of belief 
in the doctrine of hell can only embolden criminals by securing to 
them impunity. It is releasing the great mass of mankind from 
the sense of moral obligation, and opening the floodgates of 
every vice and disorder. Destroy the punishment and you de- 
stroy the very concept of sin. The general relaxation of the 
moral ties, the proclamation of sensual license under the decep- 
tive name of liberty, the audacity of crime, which had been 
before abashed, bold defiance where there had been fear and 
trembling — these would be the fatal results of the limitation, or 
the sweeping rejection of the infernal pains. 

As St. John Chrysostom said fully fourteen hundred years 
ago, if belief in eternal punishment does not deter sinners from 
the broad way of iniquity, shall belief in a temporary hell do it ? 
Indeed, this world of ours would cease to be habitable if the 
wicked had nothing to fear in the next. 

Celsus, though an Epicurean, has nothing to say against the 
Christian dogma of endless retribution. "The Christians, ' ' he 
remarks, "have reason to think that those who lead holy lives 
shall be rewarded after death : and that the wicked will be sub- 
jected to eternal torments. They entertain this their sentiment 
with the whole world. ' ' 13 

9 Pusey, What is of Faith as to Everlasting Punishment, p. 38. 

io Wis. xi. 25, 27. n 1 Tim. ii. 4. 

12 See D. Enchiridion, p. 85, n. 200 ; p. 148, n. 322. 

is Origen, Contra Celsum, vii. 48. 



Available for the Solution of Difficulties 413 

REMARK XIV 

548. In the course of our discussion we dwelt, on several occa- 
sions, on the fact that man, when responsible for his moral con- 
duct, may abuse the gift of liberty and become the cause of his 
own misery and perdition. In this connection we must solve a 
difficulty, the tendency of which is to throw on God's prescience 
the evil-doing of His rational creatures, and thus release the sin- 
ner from all accountability to his Creator and Judge. The diffi- 
culty is sometimes expressed in the following syllogistic form, 
which may entrap and deceive the unwary. "What God fore- 
sees, must infallibly happen. He foresees all human actions, 
good and bad ; therefore they are necessary, inevitable. ' ' Some 
silly philosophers, unable to extricate themselves from this ap- 
parently conclusive reasoning, have denied liberty to man; and 
others, still more silly, did not hesitate to deny prescience or 
foreknowledge to God. But an elementary acquaintance with 
the principles of logic suffices to detect the sophism concealed 
in the aforementioned syllogism. The author of that objection, 
Damiron, 14 confounds two notions that are essentially distinct, 
viz., infallibility and necessity, of which the former belongs to 
the observer — in our case, to the certain foreknowledge of God ; 
the latter concerns the agent — in our case, the intelligent, free 
creature, man. What God foresees will infallibly happen, be- 
cause His foreknowledge cannot be deceived, but from this it 
does not follow that the things or events foreseen will happen 
necessarily when it is a question of actions depending on the 
free deliberation of man. Therefore the necessity of human 
actions is not to be measured from the certain knowledge of 
Him that observes them, but from the character or nature of 
him that performs them. In other words, things do not happen 
because God foresees them; but He foresees them, because they 
will happen, either necessarily or freely, according as the agents 
are destitute of liberty or endowed with it. This is exactly the 
solution given by some of the greatest thinkers to the objection 
of unbelievers, who claim that God's foreknowledge tampers 
with the freedom of man. 

Origen says: "Things do not happen because God foresees 
them in the distant future; but because they will happen, God 
knows them before they happen. 

St. John Chrysostom: "We must not think that because 
scandals have been foreseen by God's foreknowledge 15 that 
therefore they will occur; but because they will, in the course 
of time, occur, He foresaw them ; and if they were not to occur, 
neither would He have foreseen and foretold them." 

St. Jerome: "Not because God knows that something will 
happen, it must therefore happen ; but God knowing the future 
foresees it, because it is to happen." 

14 Psych., vol. ii, p. 75. 15 Matt, xviii. 7; Luke xvii. 1. 



414 Illuminating Points of Doctrine 

St. John Damascene, in his dialogue against the Manicheans 
(n. 79) solves this difficulty with substantially the following 
reasoning: The power of foreknowledge being an attribute in- 
herent in God's own essence, is not, of course, caused by our- 
selves ; but its exercise — that is, the act itself of foreseeing what 
we intend to do — is produced, in a certain sense, by ourselves, for 
if we did not deliberate to perform some definite actions, God 
would not foresee them, because they would not be done. God's 
prevision is indeed true and infallible, but it does not cause the 
occurrence of our future free actions. Hence, since we may 
freely determine to do this or that thing, He foresees it. 16 

REMARK XV 

549. The Catholic Church is the divinely appointed guardian, 
interpreter, and herald of revealed truths, but has no authority 
to tamper with them by adding to or detracting from God's 
word. 17 

We occasionally come across certain individuals who tell us 
that they cannot help admiring the Catholic Church, the 
majesty of her ritual, the marvelous record of her long history, 
her wonderful, compact organization, and other not less attrac- 
tive features. But, they add, they find it impossible to sub- 
scribe to her repelling doctrine of everlasting punishment, and 
they are firmly convinced that, if she should not insist on men's 
acceptance of that terrific dogma, millions of converts would rush 
to join her flock. There is something uncongenial to an atmos- 
phere of high intellectual culture and refinement of our age in 
an ethical system like that of the Roman Catholic Church up- 
holding and teaching the irretrievable lot of the wicked in the 
world to come. 

Our answer is that, even if all modern unbelievers were will- 
ing to submit to her authority on that condition, the Catholic 
Church would not exempt a single one from accepting every 
point of her doctrine, that of eternal punishment included, 
and this for the simple reason that it is not in her power to do 
so. She is the guardian, interpreter, and herald of divine revela- 
tion, but has no authority to tamper with it. Moreover, it is a 
dangerous thing to meddle with revealed truths, which are so 
perfectly coherent, harmonious, and consistent that to dislodge 
one is to imperil the rest. Divine revelation, God's masterpiece, 
resembles an arch so constructed, that all the greater stones shall 
be keystones. Displace one of them, and the whole fabric falls to 
pieces and crumbles into dust. Remove the dogma of eternal 
punishment, and you will find that atonement itself will begin 
to give way ; for, if you reject the idea that a temporary offense, 
however grievous, should deserve an eternal penalty, you will 

is See Enchiridion Patr., p. 839; Urraburu, Psychologia, Vol. vi. 

17 See Apoc. xxii. 18, 19. 



Available for the Solution of Difficulties 415 

find it still more hard to understand how such an offense could 
demand an infinitely precious sacrifice for its reparation, in con- 
sequence of which the whole plan of redemption totters and 
threatens to vanish as an incomprehensible scheme. Is not this 
what actually happened in the ranks of Protestantism? No 
sooner did the early reformers alter the divine plan by replacing 
the infallible authority of the Catholic Church by private judg- 
ment than the whole Christian edifice was sapped at its very 
foundation. One by one the most fundamental dogmas of God 's 
revelations were thrown overboard, and in our days, the very 
divinity of the Founder of Christianity is either doubted or de- 
nied altogether, even by the so-called heralds of Gospel truth. 
Thus, belief in the dogma of the Trinity is no longer held as a 
test of orthodoxy for the admission of candidates to the minis- 
try, as was shown not long ago in the Presbyterian Church. 

Are we, then, to accept the plain teaching of God's infallible 
word upon the doctrine of eternal punishment, or the vagaries, 
illogical inferences, surmises, conjectures, and wild guesses de- 
duced from Scriptural texts distorted from their obvious mean- 
ing to make them fit the humanly devised theories of Destruc- 
tionists, Restorationists, and Universalists ? What these several 
sectarians hold on future retribution, and how they are refuted 
are points fully discussed in Parts IX and X of this book. 

Every doubt cast upon the certainty of a future, endless 
retribution either good or evil, is suspected in its origin, for it 
is generally the outcome of pride and passions which blind man 's 
intellect. It is puerile, for it springs from lack of solid, manly 
thought. It is disastrous in its consequences both here and 
hereafter, for it robs man of the most efficacious deterrent from 
evil, and deprives him of the most potent incentive to virtue, 
thus paving the way to dismal despair by stripping him of the 
stable basis of Christian hope. 



CHAPTEE IV 
REMARKS XVI TO XX 

REMARK XVI 

550. God Almighty gives to man a just code of laws, by the 
fulfilment of which he may gain his end, which is everlasting 
bliss. He gives him freedom to obey or disobey that just code of 
laws. He is thus supplied with the opportunity of proving his 
fitness for heaven by their observance, or of deserving his con- 
demnation to punishment by their transgression. "God made 
man from the beginning and left him in the hands of his own 
counsel. He added His commandments and precepts. Before 



416 Illuminating Points of Doctrine 

man is life and death, good and evil, that which he shall choose, 
shall be given him." 1 Moreover, the Lord places before him 
the example of His own Son Jesus Christ and of countless men 
and women of every class and condition of society, who in their 
lifetime have done what He asked them to do. 

Such, then, are the mutual relations between God and man. 
God is the Master, and man is the servant. God is the Ruler and 
man is the subject. Now, what is sin? Sin is this. God says 
to man, His creature: "I who am thy Creator, thy Redeemer, 
thy Sanctifier, thy last end in the interminable happiness of 
My kingdom, command thee, under pain of everlasting punish- 
ment in hell, to observe My commandments, not to offend Me ; to 
do My will, during the period, short or long, of thy earthly life. 
Thy loyalty and fidelity shall be rewarded by nothing short of 
infinite, eternal happiness. ' ' And man, the sinner, the crawling 
worm of the earth, answers back to his Creator, Saviour and 
Judge : "I defy thee ; I will not obey. I will not serve. Non 
serviam. 2 I will do my will, not Thine. Thou didst make and 
fashion me. Thou didst die for me. Thou didst promise me 
heaven if I obey, and threaten to punish me if I refuse. I pre- 
fer my own will, and my own good pleasure before Thee. I pre- 
fer to remain in sin rather than to receive Thy grace and obey 
Thy laws." All this is implied in the conduct of any sinner 
who remains obstinate in his rebellion against his Sovereign 
Creator and Supreme Benefactor. Renan, the notorious writer 
against the divinity of Christ, hearing of the death bed con- 
version of two eminent literary men, Thierry and Littre, his 
contemporaries, and attributing their return to the Church to 
the softening of their brains, thus defiantly wrote in his ' ' Remi- 
niscences " : "I protest in advance against such weakness, which, 
I hope, will not change my present views." Cruelly true to 
his resolution he persevered in his apostasy to the bitter end, 
and died impenitent on October 2, 1892. 

Do we not feel that such a sinner has wilfully fixed his own 
future destiny, sealed his own doom, and preferred the endless 
torments of hell to the eternal delights of heaven? Far, then, 
from eternal punishment for sin being a doctrine of harshness, 
undue severity, and injustice; it is, on the contrary, the in- 
evitable outcome of the sinner's own choice, and a needed repara- 
tion to the outraged majesty of the Most High. Take away the 
eternity of hell and admit a future restoration of even the most 
reckless sinners, and results like the following will necessarily 
ensue. An impious man would then be able thus to address the 
Omnipotent God: "I know that You can inflict on me some 
terrible punishment at my death ; I expect it and I am prepared 
for it. But I know also that there is to be a limit to the dura- 
tion of my pains, and when that is reached, You will be bound 

i Ecchis. xv. 14, 15, 18. 2 J er . ii. 20. 



Available for the Solution of Difficulties 417 

to forgive me, and make me as happy as those who always loved 
You. Comforted by such bright prospect, I wish to have my 
heaven even upon earth. I will then give free scope to my pas- 
sions, indulge my criminal gratifications, greatly rejoiced by 
the assurance that to the earthly paradise I now enjoy shall 
finally succeed the heavenly one, when You will be compelled to 
put an end to the exercise of Your justice. ' ' 

According to the upholders of the annihilation theory, a de- 
praved, obstinate sinner could launch against the Almighty a 
similar defiance, and say: "I do not know how long I am to 
live here on earth, but I do know that, on account of my wicked- 
ness You will have to annihilate my soul when I shall die. I 
care not for Your eternal heaven in the next world, so long as 
by indulging my passions I can have my paradise in this." 

Now, I ask, shall the outrages against the Lord of Majesty be 
fully repaired and deservedly punished? On the contrary, 
such an attitude of sinners would involve the greatest insult, 
which the most despicable creatures could fling in the face of 
their Sovereign Creator and Judge. It would be the triumph 
of human iniquity over God's eternal justice and sheltering 
crimes under the cloak of impunity. 

Belief in the doctrine of endless punishment is so bound up 
with the entire framework of divine revelation, and so thor- 
oughly fundamental, that to hesitate at its admission is to throw 
doubt on the belief of all other truths; and to reject it is to 
reject them all ; for it would impeach the veracity of the Revealer. 
To deny hell is to deny redemption, and with it the salvation of 
mankind by the Cross of Jesus Christ, which contains the most 
conspicuous testimony of love and mercy which the Lord of 
Heaven could give to the poor mortal inhabitants of earth. 

551. Belief in God as the rewarder of the just and the avenger 
of the wicked causes all apparent injustice and disorder to dis- 
appear, full harmony is at once established, the history of man- 
kind becomes a great, sublime drama, satisfying both mind and 
heart. Of this drama the last judgment forms the final act, 
where all the inequalities of our earthly life are fully accounted 
for, the wisdom and justice of God's providence are manifested 
to the whole world, who will exclaim with one voice : ' ' Thou 
art Just, Lord, and Thy Judgment is right. ' ' 3 This future 
event was before the mind of the inspired writer when he 
spoke thus: "I saw under the sun in the place of judgment 
wickedness, and in the place of justice iniquity. And I said in 
my heart : God shall judge both the just and the wicked. ' ' 4 

Belief in a future life sheds light and happiness; its denial 
plunges man's mind and heart into gloom and drives him in 
despair to take refuge in the low enjoyments of this world. The 
victims of this denial have been graphically described long ago 

sPs. cxviii. 137. * Eccles. iii. 16, 17. 



418 Illuminating Points of Doctrine 

in the Book of Wisdom, "Let us enjoy the good things that are 
present. Let us crown ourselves with roses before they be 
withered. ' ' 5 

REMARK XVII 

The statements contained in this remark show what is the 
sensus ecclesiae, the sentiment of the Church, regarding the fol- 
lowing doctrinal points: 

1. The duration of future punishment; 

2. The exclusion of all future probation theories ; 

3. The penalty of mortal personal sin. 

552. The Twentieth Ecumenical Council, called the Vatican 
Council, held its first session at the expiration of the year 1869, 
and its last in July of the year 1870. It is not considered as 
closed, but only temporarily suspended; that is, prorogued, 
propter iniquitatem temporum, owing to our adverse times. 

From a reliable authority, soon to be cited, I learned that, 
among the points to be proposed to the deliberations of that 
honorable assembly, there was a schema, or program covering 
several questions regarding future retribution. I will here 
transcribe the contemplated discussion on matters strictly con- 
nected with our present subject : 

"The Fathers assembled in this Council, fully aware of the 
fact that, in our times, the truth of eternal punishment is boldly 
denied and wholly rejected by many ministers of the sectarian 
creeds that divide Christendom, had prepared, through the Com- 
mission De Fide (concerning Faith), the following Canon: 'If 
some should say that man can, even after death, recover sancti- 
fying grace, and should deny that the pains of the reprobates 
in hell are to be eternal, let him be anathema.' " 

This Canon is then further explained: "As the Catholic 
Church teaches that there are no sins, however grievous, whose 
forgiveness men cannot obtain from the infinite merits of Christ, 
our God and Saviour, through sincere repentance and the power 
of sacramental grace, so adhering to the doctrine of Holy Scrip- 
ture, and of the Fathers, and of the Catholic Church herself, we 
teach and define that, after the period of the present life, when 
men shall have reached the place of retribution ; where each one 
shall receive what he has deserved, during his earthly life, either 
good or evil, 6 there will be no time left for pardon of deadly sins 
through any available penance or expiation ; but for each mortal 
offense, with which human souls appear stained before God, the 
Supreme Judge, an everlasting punishment shall be allotted, as 
the Eternal Judge Himself testifies, saying: "Depart from Me, 
you cursed, into everlasting fire. " 7 " Hence we condemn as 
heretical both the doctrine of those who deny that the pains of 
the reprobates in hell are everlasting, and of those who should 

5 Wis. ii. 6, 8. 6 2 Cor. v. 10. 7 Matt. xxv. 41. 



Available for the Solution of Difficulties 419 

say that there are some mortal sins, the expiation and forgive- 
ness of which, can be hoped for after death; on which account 
those, who should depart from this life, stained with such guilt, 
will not incur eternal damnation. ' ' 8 

It is plain that we do not quote these pronouncements as ex- 
plicit, official definitions of faith by the Fathers of the Vatican 
Council, since no public discussion was held and no vote taken 
upon them. We propose them, however, simply to show what 
is the sensus ecclesiae, the sentiment of the Church on those sub- 
jects in our times, which history proves to be in perfect har- 
mony with the tradition of the past. Hence we have every 
reason to believe that the doctrine here referred to will sooner 
or later be dogmatically defined either by a General Council or 
by a Pontifical Act. 

REMARK XVIII 

553. As to the attitude of reason toward the doctrine of eternal 
punishment, we state that the divine revelation of that dogma 
being once demonstrated, human reason, when calmly consulted, 
can assign several arguments to show the justice, fitness, and 
moral advantages of the endless pains inflicted on the wicked in 
the future world. This is the view generally held by Catholic 
theologians, such as Suarez, Lessius, Jungmann, Knoll, Hurter, 
Mazzella, Passaglia, Chr. Pesch, Perrone and others. 

Father Joseph Hontheim, S. J., in his able article on hell pub- 
lished in the Catholic Encyclopedia, thus speaks on this ques- 
tion: "Many believe that reason cannot give any conclusive 
proof for the eternity of the pains of hell, but that it can merely 
show that this doctrine does not involve any contradiction. 
Since the Church has made no decision on this point, each one 
is entirely free to embrace this opinion. As is apparent, the 
author of this article does not hold it. ' ' 9 

The late Father Sanctus Schiffini, S. J., one of the most dis- 
tinguished philosophers and theologians of our times, agrees 
with the aforementioned Father Hontheim, S. J., and proposes 
to himself the following question: 

"Can natural reason prove the eternity of hell?" He an- 
swers it affirmatively and proceeds to prove it substantially as 
follows : 

1. Mortal sin is in itself an irreparable evil, because contrary 
to the last end of human life, being an act of aversion from God, 
immutable, infinite good, and a turning to creatures, which the 
sinner prefers to Him. This constitutes a guilt that, being irrep- 
arable, becomes perpetual. Now it is reasonable that the pun- 
ishment should last as long as the guilt caused by sin will last, 
that is, perpetually. Here we consider the condition of a soul 

s Hurter, Compendium Theologiae Dogmaticae, vol. iii, p. 513, in nota, 

9 Cath. Enc, vol. vii, p. 209. 



420 Illuminating Points of Doctrine 

that has departed from this life in the state of mortal sin. 

2. Another proof is derived from the gravity of the mortal 
offense on account of the formal or at least virtual or implicit, 
contempt which it involves of the infinite majesty of God. On 
this account it contracts a kind of infinite malice ; which could 
not be expiated or repaired by a mere creature through good 
works, no matter how excellent and how indefinitely multiplied. 

3. Moreover, it is highly proper and just that grievous sins 
should be visited by such punishment as will cause men to en- 
tertain the greatest fear of offending God's Supreme Majesty. 
Now the infliction of a limited, temporary penalty would not 
suffice to induce men to realize the gravity of the divine offense. 
Hence the reason why such penalty should be eternal. 10 

REMARK XIX 

554. As the heretical doctrine of Origen has again been re- 
vived in our times by the so-called neo-Origenists, our modern 
advocates of Restitutionalism, we deem it advisable to give a 
brief notice of this extraordinary man, and of the principal 
errors which the Church condemned. From these statements it 
will appear that the recent upholders of his chief erroneous doc- 
trine were anathematized long ago. 

Origen was born of Christian parents, probably at Alexan- 
dria in Egypt, in the year 185 or 186. He owed his first train- 
ing and excellent religious formation to his father Leonides, who 
suffered martyrdom in the persecution of Septimius Severus, 
in the year 202. He won the admiration of his contemporaries 
in the threefold character of teacher, writer, and preacher. Sev- 
eral of his voluminous writings have reached us and fill the 
readers with wonder at the extraordinary learning and erudi- 
tion of this remarkable man. When the Decian persecution 
broke out, he was arrested and cast into prison, where he under- 
went many tortures, but his courage was unshaken, and from 
his prison he wrote numerous letters breathing the spirit of the 
martyrs. He died at Tyr, aged 69, probably as a victim of the 
sufferings he endured during the persecution; hence he was 
buried with honor as a Confessor of the Faith. With the pur- 
est intention of winning over to the Church the educated circles 
of Hellenism, he undertook the task of harmonizing Hellenic 
philosophy with the faith of the Church. But the Neo-Platon- 
ism and Gnosticism with which his mind was imbued from his 
earliest years unhappily betrayed him into many errors, both 
against sound philosophy and revealed truths. His principal 
errors are the following: 

A. In the Trinity the Holy Spirit is inferior to the Logos, 
the Son, who in turn is inferior to the Father. 

io Disputationes Metaphysicae Specialis, vol. i, p. 435. 



Available for the Solution of Difficulties 421 

B. The angelic spirits and the human souls were all. created 
from eternity and in a state of equal perfection. 

C. There will be a final restitution, when all the demons and 
the reprobate human creatures will be saved and completely 
transformed. 

D. But this restitution cannot be said to be final, for, accord- 
ing to another capital error of Origen, there will be an evolution 
moving on endlessly between sin and repentance, between apos- 
tasy from God and return to Him; an ever-changing condition, 
from which none of the blessed will be exempted. 

555. These monstrous errors could not escape the vigilant eye 
of the Church. The first condemnation was issued by the Synod 
of Constantinople in the year 543, under the Patriarch Menna. 
Its Canons, approved by Pope Vigilius, the eastern patriarchs, 
and many bishops, were held as a profession of the teachings 
of the Universal Church. 11 

Then the Fifth Ecumenical Council, held at Constantinople 
in the year 553 and ratified by Pope Vigilius, ranked Origen 
among the heretics. 12 Origen 's condemnation took place a con- 
siderable time after his death, when his errors, first confined to 
the Orient, found an echo in the far West. Had the Church 
spoken during his lifetime, Origen would certainly have sub- 
mitted to her decision, as we may judge from his sterling char- 
acter and ardent zeal in the defense of the Christian Faith. 

REFERENCES 

1. An exhaustive discussion on this subject is to be found in 
Lessius, vol. iii. p. 473. 

2. Bardenhewer 's Patrology, Articles on Origen cited in alpha- 
betical index of his work. 

3. Manual of Patrology by the Eev. Bernard Schmid, 0. S. B. 

4. Palmieri, De Deo Creante, p. 253. Nota. 

556. In connection with Origen 's chief error, the final resti- 
tution or liberation of all the inhabitants of the infernal re- 
gions, I will here recall the several allied errors that have been 
devised to replace the Christian dogma on the eternity of hell. 

The well-known aphorism, "Truth is one, error is manifold," 
we find verified in the contradictory tenets of the opponents of 
that dogma. They may be reduced to the following : 

A. Revived Origenism, or the final restoration or restitution, 
after sufferings of different severity and duration. 

B. Universalism, that is, no punishment at all hereafter, but 
salvation and endless happiness for all, just and sinners. 

C. A second trial or probation after death for sinners who 
failed to secure their happy destiny in the present life. 

D. Voluntary or conditional immortality, thus explained by 
its advocates : 

ii D. Enchiridion, pp. 87, 89. 12 Ibid., p. 96, can. xi. 



422 Illuminating Points of Doctrine 

He that chooses to do God's will shall be made partaker of a 
glorious immortality in the heavenly kingdom, through the 
application of the redeeming merits of Jesus Christ. 

On the contrary, he that will transgress God's commandments, 
and prefer his own rebellious will, shall, after death, be pun- 
ished by complete annihilation. This absurd, unscriptural 
theory has been triumphantly refuted by Pere Felix, S. J., in his 
volume "Eternite." 

E. Another view of Annihilation, which consists simply in 
this, that after death the just will enjoy eternal happiness in 
heaven, and the wicked will be punished by total extinction of 
their being. 

What we have written in the preceding parts of our work, 
and what we shall say in the ninth one will, no doubt, be found 
amply sufficient to confute all the above mentioned irrational 
and unscriptural theories. 

We here briefly recall another heretical doctrine regarding 
the condition of reprobate souls after death. According to 
Luther the wicked are not finally consigned to hell until the last 
day at the universal judgment : but their destiny is determined 
at death, a heresy revived and preached by the late Pastor 
Russell, who now knows better, wherever he be. 

REMARK XX 

557. As the reader is aware, we have pointed out on several 
occasions, in the course of this volume, the fact that eternal dam- 
nation is the result of the sinner's own doing. This is acknowl- 
edged by each guilty soul at the particular judgment and will 
be admitted and publicly confessed by all the lost at the universal 
judgment. This much we learn from the divine prediction re- 
corded in the Book of Wisdom. ''Therefore we have erred 
from the way of truth. We wearied ourselves in the way of 
iniquity ; but the way of the Lord we have not known. ' ' 13 
Then both the just and the wicked will exclaim with the Royal 
Psalmist: "Thou art just, O Lord, and Thy judgment is 
right." 14 

But this matter is so important that we thought it advisable 
to make it the subject of a special remark, as this truth forms 
the very foundation of several arguments directed to the solu- 
tion of difficulties urged by rationalists and others against the 
justice of eternal punishment. The sinner, who obstinately re- 
sists the opportunities of grace and conversion, can only blame 
himself for his irreparable ruin, the loss of heavenly happiness 
and the incurring of untold infernal miseries. The real and 
ultimate cause of reprobation is not God, but the sinner's per- 
verse will, that deliberately chooses his perpetual woe. St. Ber- 
nard uttered a great truth when he said: "Only the perverse 

is Wis. v. 6, 7. 14 Ps. cxviii. 137. 



Available for the Solution of Difficulties 423 

will of man burns in hell." — "Hominis tantummodo mala volun- 
tas ardet in inferno," 

Hence the egregious error of those who, like Calvin and his 
disciples, look upon damnation as the result of an arbitrary act 
of God. As St. John Damascene reasons, the antecedent will of 
the Creator was that all men should be saved and reach their 
last happy end. St. Paul writes: "God will have all men to 
be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. " 15 He 
created us to make us sharers of His own infinite happiness, as 
far as it can be partaken of by creatures, 16 and this for the simple 
reason that He is essentially good; and, at the same time, He 
allots punishment to the wicked only because He is just. Ac- 
cording to our manner of conceiving the attitude or bearing of the 
divine attributes toward rational creatures, when consider- 
ing the objects which God may will (Dei voluntas ex parte voli- 
torum), 17 we see in God two wills, viz., the antecedent will, which 
is the primary ; and the consequent will, which is the secondary. 

The first springs radically from God's goodness and moves 
Him to make us partakers of His own happiness. The second is 
that of which the sinners themselves are the cause, as by sin 
they provoke the Lord to punish them by the exercise of His 
justice. If man, in the full, untrammeled use of his liberty, re- 
fuses to obey the Lord, he thereby destroys in his own soul the 
germ or source of his eternal felicity ; he, of his own accord, sets 
aside the indispensable condition of his own happiness, and, by 
severing the bond of charity and love that kept him united to His 
God, he condemns himself to everlasting misery, and becomes 
the object of divine hatred. 

Behold here the fundamental truth, of which we should never 
lose sight when dealing with the momentous question of the real, 
final cause, reason, or motive of the sinner's perdition. It is 
not God that condemns man, but it is man that condemns himself 
by the abuse of his liberty. A great thinker, probably St. Au- 
gustine, expressed this truth in these brief words : "Deus, de suo 
bonus, de nostro, Justus," which may be thus paraphrased : God 
is the cause of the exercise of divine goodness ; man — the sinner 
— is the cause of the exercise of divine justice. God can propose 
to Himself in His positive antecedent will the manifestation of 
His bounty in behalf of His creatures ; but, owing to His infinite 
perfection, He cannot antecedently intend the display of His vin- 
dicative justice. He may have the antecedent will of awarding 
recompense ; but His will to punish can only be consequent, that 
is, following the prevision of man's sin; and if sin is not done 
away with by repentance, the will to punish is succeeded by 
actual infliction. Such is substantially the teaching of St. 
Thomas quoted above. 

is 1 Tim. ii. 4. ie See Part I. 

17 St. Thomas, Summa Theol., p. i. q. xix, art. 6. 



424 Illuminating Points of Doctrine 

558. God, being infinite holiness, would act against His per- 
fection if He did not restore and repair the moral order which 
He has established when that order is violated by His creatures. 
Hence He cannot permit that His inalienable rights should be 
assailed without providing for their maintenance, through the 
appointment of a penal or punitive sanction. Therefore, we 
again conclude, it is not on account of any arbitrary decree 
that Almighty God brings to bear all the rigor of His justice 
on man's rebellious will, but He does so because such action is 
imperatively demanded by the rights of His sovereign majesty 
attacked and trampled upon by the sinner's obstinate will. Now, 
who is the real cause of God's resorting to the application of 
punitive sanction; that is, to the infliction of the threatened 
eternal penalty? Evidently the sinner alone, who by His final 
impenitence repels from himself God's eternal love. What will 
he answer to the Supreme Judge, whose bounty has showered 
upon him both natural and supernatural goods; whose voice 
has repeatedly called him to repentance by both interior and 
exterior appeals; whose patience and longanimity have waited 
for his reconciliation for perhaps forty or fifty years; whose 
providence has supplied him with all the means of salvation? 
When called to his accounts what acceptable excuse will he be 
able to offer ? Having refused to co-operate with divine grace in 
restoring and repairing the moral order, violated by his sin, when 
it was possible for him to do it by timely repentance, the sinner 
is compelled after death to restore that order and repair the 
insults done to God's offended majesty by incurring the puni- 
tive sanction. God's foreknowledge perceives the persevering, 
obstinate rebellion of the sinner's will and his fixed fatal deter- 
mination of refusing to retract by sorrow the evil he committed. 
Then we need not be surprised if his just Judge shall have to 
pronounce the dreadful verdict — guilty. We are justified, then, 
in concluding once more that it is not God that causes the repro- 
bation of sinners, but the sinners themselves who choose to die 
impenitent and unshriven. 

What sound reason teaches, God 's revelation fully confirms, as 
it appears from the following testimonies : 

' ' God made man from the beginning, and left him in the hand 
of his own counsel. He added His Commandments and pre- 
cepts. Before man is life and death, good and evil ; that which 
he shall choose shall be given him. ' ' 18 

"Man shall go into the house of his eternity." 19 

559. The same truth, of the sinner's exclusive responsibility 
for his final reprobation, may be stated as follows, under the 
luminous guidance of the Angelic Doctor. The distinction be- 
tween the antecedent and the consequent will of God may be 
made in reference to the things which God may wish (ex parte 

isEcclus. xv. 14, 15, 18. is Eccles. xii. 5. 



Available for the Solution of Difficulties 425 

volitorum) but not on the part of the divine will itself, in which 
there can be neither before nor after (neque prius, neque pos- 
terius), that is, neither antecedent nor consequent. Now, the 
things or objects willed— such as man's eternal salvation— may be 
considered in themselves, that is, absolutely and independently of 
particular circumstances, such as the free action of man ; then we 
have, regarding it, God's antecedent will thus expressed by St. 
Paul : ' ' God our Saviour will have all men to be saved, and to 
come to the knowledge of the truth. ' ' 20 But if we consider the 
things willed, such as man's eternal salvation, taking into ac- 
count all particular circumstances, facts, or events, such as man 's 
co-operation or resistance to grace, and his final perseverance in 
grace or in sin, then we have what is called God's consequent 
will. The antecedent will is styled by St. John Damascene the 
will of goodness and mercy ; the consequent will is designated by 
him as the will of justice. Therefore the will of God to punish 
impenitent sinners is said to be a consequent divine will inas- 
much as it implies a decree of damnation issued in consequence 
of the foreseen, final, deliberate impenitence of the sinner. Ac- 
cording to Calvin's horrible creed, adopted by the Westminster 
Confession of Faith, 21 damnation is the result of God's antece- 
dent will or decree enacted independently of human action and 
only to the praise of God's glorious justice. 22 

According to the Catholic doctrine, which is diametrically 
opposed to the foregoing detestable heresy, God may have the 
antecedent will of awarding recompense, but He cannot, consist- 
ently with His attributes of goodness and justice, antecedently 
intend the mere display of His punitive justice. Hence, ac- 
cording to Catholic teaching, eternal reprobation is the result 
of God's consequent will, that is, in consequence of man's de- 
liberate rejection of the grace and means of salvation. The pre- 
ceding considerations will help to understand the two following 
sentences of St. Thomas : 23 " What God wills by His antecedent 
will is not always realized; in fact, God wills the salvation and 
happiness of all men : yet only those are saved who observe His 
holy law." "What God wills by His consequent will is fully 
verified." For no created power can oppose the execution of 
His most just decrees. 

The foregoing teaching of the Angelic Doctor is in full ac- 
cord with his doctrine on predestination, which is briefly as 
follows: Predestination to eternal glory is twofold, adequate 
and inadequate. The former comprehends both grace and glory, 
and when so considered it cannot be said to have been merited, 
for grace is an entirely gratuitous gift. The latter comprehends 

20 l Tim. ii. 4; St. Thomas, p. i. q. xix, art. 6. 21 Chap. Ill, a. d. 1647. 

22 See Schaff, Creeds of Christendom, vol. iii, pp. 608-611. 

23 In 1 Sent. Dist. xlvi, art. 1 ; Dist. xlvii, art. 1, 2, 3 ; In Summa, P. 1, 
q. xix, art. 6, 8. 



426 Illuminating Points of Doctrine 

only the glory and has reference to foreseen merits obtained by 
co-operation with grace. This is like saying that God preor- 
dained that He would give to some one glory in view of his 
merits ; and that he preordained that He would give to some one 
grace by which he should merit glory. 24 



CHAPTER V 

REMARKS XXI TO XXV 

REMARK XXI 

560. To the criticisms of conditional immortality in Part VIII 
we add here a fuller refutation by exposing the fallacy of the 
chief arguments put forth by the Rev. Edward White, Professor 
of Homiletics in New College, London, lately Chairman of the 
Congregational Union of England and Wales. He is held to be 
the ablest defender of that novel scheme of salvation contained 
in the three following propositions: 

1. "We contend," he says, "that there is no Bible evidence 
of native immortality in man, that is, immortality by creation. 

2. "That the one main design, if not the chief design, of 
Christ's Incarnation and Redemption work was to confer phys- 
ical immortality upon those who should believe, and on them only. 

3. "That all others who reject the offer of this immortality 
with the other truths of His Gospel, are condemned to suffer 
beyond death, and then to be physically destroyed, that is, anni- 
hilated." 

561. Against the first proposition we argue thus: The rev- 
erend divine, quoting many passages from the Bible, must 
necessarily admit its authority; his attention is accordingly in- 
vited to the following texts, whose literal meaning no Biblical 
scholar of repute has ever denied, and which amply suffice to 
disprove his first assertion. "God created man to His own 
image, to the image of God, He created him. " x It is agreed 
on all hands that God's image in man resides chiefly in the soul, 
which, like God, is spiritual, intelligent, and enduring for all 
eternity. "The Lord breathed in his [man's] face and man be- 
came a living soul." 2 "God created man incorruptible [inde- 
structible] and to the image of His own likeness He made him." 3 

These last words of the inspired writer evidently refer to the 
condition of our first parents in the state of innocence, when, in 
accordance with the Lord's most benevolent design, their bodies 
were to be immortal by gift, whilst their souls were created 
immortal by nature. 

Mr. White quotes Ecclesiastes iii. 19, to prove that the soul 
of man perishes like that of beasts; but he takes good care not 

24 P. I, q. xxiii, art. 3, 5. i Gen. i. 27. 2 ibid., ii. 7. 3 Wis., ii. 23. 



Available for the Solution of Difficulties 427 

to allege, from the same sacred Book, the text that completely 
nullifies his interpretation of the passage he quotes : ' ' And the 
dust shall return into its earth from whence it was, and the 
spirit [the soul j shall return to God, who gave it. " 4 The 
meaning of the text adduced by the Rev. Mr. White (Ecclesi- 
astes iii. 19) has been fully explained in Part III. 

Moreover, we may here justly apply the logician's aphorism, 
"Quod nimis probat, nihil probat." — "What proves too much, 
proves nothing. ' ' In fact, if for argument 's sake, we accept Mr. 
White's interpretation of the text he cites: "Man hath noth- 
ing more than the beast," as signifying that, at death, the soul 
of man ceases to exist, as well as that of the beast, what will fol- 
low from it? This inevitable consequence, that there is for all 
human souls no immortality whatever, neither native immor- 
tality by God 's creation, nor conditional immortality by Christ 's 
redemption, since they all perish. 

562. In the second proposition the reverend gentleman main- 
tains that the chief scope of Christ's coming was to confer phys- 
ical immortality on believers, and on them only. 

Here is our answer : We have already refuted this other asser- 
tion of the reverend Congregational minister, for, if, as we 
proved from the Scripture, physical immortality is the work of 
creation, the Saviour must have had some other chief design 
in view at His coming, and such a design as constitutes the prin- 
cipal object of Incarnation and Redemption. He comes 
indeed to bestow on man the gift of life, but not that of the 
natural life of the soul, common to all men, to believers as well 
as unbelievers, but the life of divine grace, the spiritual life of 
the soul, through which we are united to God by the bonds of 
friendship and love. This is exactly the most beneficent purpose 
of His coming. Hence He says in His Gospel: "I am come 
that they may have life and have it more abundantly" ; 5 that is, 
in greater profusion than was vouchsafed to the just of the Old 
Testament. They were under the reign of law, first natural, then 
Mosaic. The Christian people are under the law of grace. 

And as the spiritual life of grace is incompatible with the 
presence of sin in man's soul, so the Blessed Redeemer's passion 
and death were directed to the effacement and destruction of sin. 
This much we learn from St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, 
"Knowing this that our old man is crucified with Him [Christ] 
that the body of sin may be destroyed. ' ' 6 

A similar thought is conveyed to us by these words of St. 
John the Evangelist: "And you know that He [Christ] ap- 
peared to take away our sins." "If we confess our sins, He is 
faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from 
all iniquity. ' ' 7 

4 Eccles. xii. 7. 5 John x. 10. 6 Rom. vi. 6. 

7 1 John i. 9 (see also Matt. i. 21). 



428 Illuminating Points of Doctrine 

In other words, our Blessed Saviour, through the sacraments 
which He instituted and left to His Church, restores to us the 
life of grace, the spiritual life of the soul, whenever it is lost 
actually destroyed by mortal sin. "Sin," says St. James' 
"when it is completed [that is, fully assented to] begetteth 
death. " 8 

lk For she that liveth in pleasures," says St. Paul, "is dead 
while she is living. " 9 The Apostle here speaks of a life addicted 
to unlawful, sensual pleasures, such as kill, destroy the life of 
grace in the soul. The same interpretation must be obviously 
applied to these other words of St. Paul: "The wages of sin 
is death. But the grace of God, life everlasting in Christ Jesus 
our Lord." 10 

It is perfectly true that death in the state of grace, free from 
deadly sin, brings with it the assurance of a blessed immortality ; 
that is, the eternal happiness promised to the just ; but this fact 
does not imply what our clerical opponent assumes; namely, the 
conferring of the gift of physical immortality, which, as we have 
shown above, is the result not of Redemption, but of creation. 

563. We come now to the third proposition, according to which 
all unbelievers rejecting the offer of conditional, physical immor- 
tality, after undergoing some sufferings in the next world, are 
finally destroyed, that is, annihilated by God. 

Our reply is as follows: In the first place, the attentive 
reader must not have failed to notice how utterly illogical is Mr. 
White's reasoning. In fact, if, according to his interpretation 
of Ecclesiastes iii. 19, man's soul fares no better at death than 
that of the beast, for it perishes, dies with the body, what 
need is there of annihilation, and how is it possible for the souls 
of unbelievers to suffer punishment, since they cease to exist 
when their bodies die? But to dispose of the utterly absurd 
and unscriptural annihilation scheme, so warmly defended by the 
reverend gentleman, we have only to recall what we read in the 
Apocalypse of sinners enduring punishment in the next world: 
' ' And in those days men shall seek death, and shall not find it ; 
and they shall desire to die, and death shall fly from them. ' ' 1X 
I am fully aware of the fact that among the Scriptural texts 
alleged by the advocates of conditional immortality and the so- 
called Destructionists, to prove the annihilation theory, that of 
St. Matthew's Gospel is looked upon as by far the strongest: 
"Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill 
the soul; but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and 
body in hell. " 12 Of course, the word ' ' destroy ' ' is here as- 
sumed by our adversaries as synonymous with the term "anni- 
hilate." This is a vain subterfuge. For, first of all, if by de- 
struction, annihilation is meant, what need was there of the 

s James i. 15. s 1 Tim. v. 6. io Rom. vi. 23. 

nApoc. ix. 6. 12 Matt. x. 28. 



Available for the Solution of Difficulties 429 

final words "in hell"? The right interpretation of the whole 
text is easily deduced from those final words "in hell." They 
signify not the blotting out of existence of both soul and body 
of the wicked, but the utter ruin and awful catastrophe of both. 
First, of the soul condemned and consigned to the pains of hell 
immediately after death; and secondly, they point out the ter- 
rible lot awaiting the bodies of the wicked likewise in hell after 
the final resurrection, the resurrection unto judgment threatened 
by Christ to evil-doers in St. John's Gospel: "They that have 
done evil shall come forth unto the resurrection of judgment." 13 
But there is still another answer to disprove the interpretation 
of our opponents. We find it in a parallel text of St. Luke's 
Gospel, which shows plainly the correct meaning of a similar 
passage in St. Matthew's Gospel, the one adduced by the up- 
holders of annihilation. Thus spoke Christ: "And I say to 
you, My friends ; be not afraid of them who kill the body, and, 
after that, they have no more that they can do. But I will show 
you whom you shall fear ; fear ye Him, who after He hath killed, 
hath power to cast into hell. Yea, I say to you, fear Him. ' ' 14 

564. In an article in the "Clerical Symposium," 15 the Rev. 
John Cairns, D.D., says many good things in refutation of 
White 's conditional immortality, but he is greatly mistaken when 
he states that Plato in his Phaedo held the final destruction 
of the soul. The renowned Greek philosopher, whose text I have 
consulted, says nothing of the kind. On the contrary, both in 
his Phaedo, Gorgias, Laws, and in his De Republica, also called 
De Civitate, he definitely teaches the truth of the soul's immor- 
tality and of future retribution. See appropriate quotations in 
Parts III, VI and VII. 

565. The announcement of Mr. White's theory of voluntary 
immortality found a sympathetic echo with several Protestant 
ministers of the liberal school. But other divines, on seeing the 
old creed thus reduced to tatters, came to the rescue, and, to save 
it from utter destruction, undertook to combat the novel view 
by showing that it was entirely opposed to the traditional be- 
lief of the preceding eighteen centuries of the Christian era. 
At this juncture Catholic writers stepped in and denied to them 
the right to appeal to tradition, as they had discarded it as evi- 
dence of no value in deciding religious questions. This feature 
revealed to the public the embarrassing and inconsistent position 
of the preachers who, in their plight, attempted to resort to an 
argument which the early reformers as well as themselves had 
rejected as futile. 

Only Catholic apologists, armed with the twofold weapon of 
Scripture and Tradition, expounded by an infallible authority, 
is John v. 29. 

i* Luke xii. 4, 5. See Clerical Symposium, p. 220. 
is See article x, p. 203. 



430 Illuminating Points of Doctrine 

can successfully cope with the advocates of voluntary immor- 
tality or with any other opponents of Christian, Catholic truths. 

REMARK XXII 

No one can exclude sensitive pain as an integral part of the 
sufferings of the reprobate creatures, whether angelic or human, 
without running counter to Holy Scripture, the general con- 
sent of the Fathers, and the explicit teaching of the Catholic 
Church. 

566. When we stated that the common opinion of theologians 
upholds the view we have defended regarding the chief sensi- 
tive torment of hell, which consists in the awful pain caused by 
a real fire, whatever be its nature, we were fully aware of the 
fact that, even in our times, some well-meaning Catholic writers 
advocate a milder doctrine regarding eternal punishment. 
Theirs are the few dissonant notes, which, however, like the 
shadows in paintings, only bring the opposite truth into bolder 
relief. As we say in Latin, canunt extra chorum. In my re- 
searches I met only two such advocates and both of them think 
of strengthening their position by a quotation from the Dog- 
matic Theology of the late Most Reverend Francis Kenrick, 
former Archbishop of Philadelphia. I admit that the following 
words quoted from his Tractatus XIX, ch. iii, though somewhat 
ambiguous, seem to lend countenance to that milder view of hell, 
which excludes the infliction of sensitive pain on the part of God. 
" It is sufficient, ' ' writes Kenrick, ' ' to regard the suffering as pro- 
ceeding from the condition in which sinners are placed, as being 
remote from the kingdom of heaven. It is not necessary to con- 
ceive of God positively inflicting pain. ' ' 

Here we venture to remark that, if another passage in the same 
chapter had been adverted to, the Catholic theologians to whom 
I refer, would most likely have refrained from citing Archbishop 
Kenrick as favorable to their view. These are his words: 
"Constat poenam summam vehement emque cruciatum utraque 
voce ignis et vermis designari," which in plain English read: 
"It is plain that by both these terms, 'fire' and 'worm,' are 
designated a very great pain and a fierce torment." That the 
Latin word cruciatus means a real, sensitive torment, we also 
learn from the tormenting thirst of the rich man in hell : 
"Crucior in hac flamma." — "I am tormented in this flame." 16 

It is clear that this second statement of Archbishop Kenrick 
can scarcely be reconciled with the first, which says that "It is 
not necessary to conceive of God positively inflicting pain," for 
the torment mentioned in the second citation is certainly inflicted 
by God through the instrumentality of secondary causes, the 
action of fire in particular. If we exclude all sensitive afflic- 
tions, then there will be in hell only the pain of loss, the for- 

16 Luke xvi. 24. 



Available for the Solution of Difficulties 431 

feiture of heavenly happiness, a doctrine diametrically opposed 
to the whole tradition of Christendom, the authority of the 
Fathers, and the overwhelming majority of Catholic theologians 
with St. Thomas at their head. Supplem. p. iii. q. 97. Summa 
Contra Gent. 1. iii. c. 145. Explaining this chapter, St. Thomas 
quotes the words of Christ: "Depart from Me, you cursed, into 
everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his an- 
gels, ' ' 17 and then adds, ' ' By this sentence is excluded the opinion 
of Algazel, who held that the only punishment incurred by sin- 
ners was the loss of their last end," that is, the forfeiture of 
heavenly happiness. 

567. One of the two writers I am speaking of quotes in his 
favor Father Taparelli, S. J., the renowned Italian author of the 
"Essay on Natural Eight." These are the words translated 
from the Italian original: "From what has been said, it ap- 
pears that the punishment is not a torment of the sensitive man, 
but a recoil of order against disorder." Here Father Tapa- 
relli did not mean to exclude all sensitive pain as an instrument 
of punishment, but he only intended to state the fact that, both 
in the human and in the divine government, the principal pur- 
pose, aim, or object of punishment is the vindication, restora- 
tion, or reparation of order violated by the infraction of either 
human or divine law, as the case may be. This is the princi- 
pal end of every rational punishment: whilst the actual in- 
fliction of pain is resorted to as a means. Hence Father Tapa- 
relli on the alleged passage says: "Vindicative justice, there- 
fore, far from being a blind impetus of passion, is founded on the 
essential tendency of truth and order, which constitutes the 
very nature of human intelligence demanding a violent return 
to that order which has been disturbed by some misdeed. ' ' And 
when it is a question of the disturbance of the divinely estab- 
lished moral order by a transgression of God's laws, the pun- 
ishment is inflicted on the offender also as a justly due repara- 
tion of the injury done to God's infinite majesty. Any other 
interpretation of the learned Jesuit moralist would involve the 
absurd conclusion that all inflictions of sensitive pains cannot be 
looked upon as legitimate and rational punishment, either in 
the human or in the divine order. Hence the author of the 
"Essay on Natural Right," to be consistent with the significance 
attributed to his words, should have entirely omitted the pages 
devoted to the discussion of the civil penalties allotted to crim- 
inals by judicial courts. This consequence would imply an ap- 
plication of the logicians' principle: "Quod nimis probat, nihil 
prohat." — "What proves too much, proves nothing." 

The only motive that induced us to write this additional remark 
is the desire of preventing our opponents from supporting their 
erroneous theories by quoting Catholic authors apparently favor- 

17 Matt. xxv. 41. 



432 Illuminating Points of Doctrine 

able to their views, though their sentiments may be thoroughly 
orthodox. 

REMARK XXIII 

568. Can the demons and the separated reprobate souls suffer 
sensitive pains? As Catholic philosophy teaches us, the soul, 
when separated from the body by death, cannot exercise the 
operations of sensitive life, because such operations do not pro- 
ceed from the soul alone, but from the human compound, which 
is their subjective receptacle. Hence these operations cease with 
death, as they cannot be performed independently of bodily 
organs. Such is the doctrine of St. Thomas in P. I, q. lxxvii, 
art. 8 ; and in Suppl. P. III. q. lxx. art. 1, 2, 3. However, from 
this doctrine, as the same Angelic Doctor observes in the third 
article of the last quotation, it does not follow that the sepa- 
rated souls of the reprobates do not feel sensitive pain from 
hell's fire, for if such affliction is experienced by the fallen an- 
gels, for whom, as Christ tells us, that fire was prepared, 18 there 
appears no reason why the condemned souls should not likewise 
suffer from the infernal flames. 

Moreover, as hell's fire is the instrument of divine justice for 
the punishment of sin, that torment can be made to act inde- 
pendently of natural conditions, God's power supplying the ab- 
sence of the corporeal organs, since the instrument acts not only 
through its inherent power, but also through the power of the 
chief agent, which is, in our case, divine punitive justice. 19 

The preceding reflections are fully confirmed by the authority 
of two distinguished Fathers. 

St. Augustine writes: "The souls of the reprobates are tor- 
mented by hell 's fire in true, though wonderful, mysterious man- 
ners." 20 

St. Gregory the Great, treating of the same question says: 
1 ' If the devil and his angels, who are incorporeal, are tormented 
by a corporeal fire, what wonder if the souls, before resuming 
their bodies, can feel bodily pains ? " 21 

Demons are now allowed by divine permission to come out of 
hell and roam throughout the earth to tempt men, and molest 
the just as a test of their virtue, and an occasion of merit ; but 
it is certain that, wherever they may be, they are never free from 
their torments. The same must be said of the reprobate souls 
if, by divine permission, they are allowed temporarily to quit 
their infernal abode. 22 

is Matt. xxv. 41. is See St. Thomas, Suppl. p. iii, q. 97, art. 5 ad 3um. 

20 Enchiridion Patr., p. 653. 2i ibid., p. 812. 

22 St. Thomas, Suppl. p. iii, q. 70, art. 3 ad 8um. 



Available for the Solution of Difficulties 433 

REMARK XXIV 

569. No one can call in question or deny the principle that 
all metaphorical, ambiguous, equivocal, obscure language is to be 
sedulously avoided when the expressions used are intended to 
state a definite truth, to proclaim a certain law, to pronounce a 
decision, or to deliver a judicial sentence. If such are the re- 
quirements imposed by natural reason and equity on human 
writers, legislators, and judges, we must, for higher motives, 
affirm that Christ, the Son of God, the Supreme Lawgiver and 
Sovereign Judge of mankind, in pronouncing the final sentence 
on the wicked, must have acted in full conformity with the 
above principle of rational justice, and employed a language 
utterly incapable of and opposed to any metaphorical interpre- 
tation. Hence the words with which Christ concludes His de- 
scription of the last judgment, must be taken in their obvious, 
literal sense ; meaning, therefore, endless reward to the elect and 
endless penalty to the reprobates. "And these [the wicked] 
shall go into everlasting punishment; but the just, into life 
everlasting. ' ' 23 

In this connection we are fully aware of the interminable 
discussions held on the Greek and Hebrew nouns and adjectives 
employed to signify endless duration. We also well know the 
desperate efforts made by rationalistic Biblical interpreters to 
nullify their meaning as applied in Holy Scripture to the dura- 
tion of hell's punishment. But leaving aside, for the present, 
all such discussion, we find an irrefutable argument in favor of 
the eternal duration of punitive sanction in the striking passage 
of Our Saviour's discourse recorded in St. Mark's Gospel where 
the eternal duration of future punishment is asserted not by 
the word "eternity," or the adjective "everlasting," but by 
denying that it will ever end : by asserting that hell 's fire is un- 
quenchable, and the worm, the remorse of conscience, is undying. 
"Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not extin- 
guished. ' ' 24 Let the quibblers about the meaning of the Greek 
and Hebrew words referred to above refute this argument based 
on St. Mark's text if they can. 

A forcible argument, or a theological proof based on God's 
revelation, may be framed as follows: Actual, mortal sin, ac- 
cording to the divine ordinance, can be canceled, that is, for- 
given, only in the present life. This can be done either by 
sacramental absolution, or, if recourse to sacramental penance 
is not available or possible, by an act of perfect contrition 
prompted chiefly by God's love. If neither of these means or 
divine provisions has been applied, mortal sin remains unfor- 
given, and shall be punished as long as it shall last, that is, 
forever. 

A similar argument is taken from St. Thomas and thus ex- 

23 Matt. xxv. 46. 24 Mark ix. 43. 



434 Illuminating Points of Doctrine 

pressed: Whoever sins mortally is thereby deprived at once 
of sanctifying grace and made amenable to eternal punishment. 
The recovery of this grace is absolutely necessary for the for- 
giveness of sin, and the deliverance of the sinner from incurring 
the merited penalty. If the sinner dies unshriven and unre- 
pentant, he will remain forever stained with grievous guilt, as 
after death he is utterly incapable of recovering the forfeited 
grace by the removal of sin. Now so long as the sin lasts, the 
sinner remains subject to its punishment and he is therefore 
eternally damned. 25 

REMARK XXV 

570. Many a page of history records unexpiated crimes so 
enormous in their cruelty and malice as to convince the most su- 
perficial mind of the necessity of such a punishment as would 
restrain men from similar excesses. We read of ruthless tyrants 
who united the most refined barbarity against innocent victims to 
a life of unspeakable debauchery. Thousands of innocent hu- 
man creatures died an ignominious death, marked with the brand 
of shame, even to their grave, whilst their traducers and perse- 
cutors were held in reverence to the last, many of them depart- 
ing from this life with blasphemy on their lips. Has any earthly 
punishment befallen them ? Is it conceivable that such monsters 
of iniquity will have nothing to fear from the anger of the Su- 
preme Judge, whose laws they trampled upon, and whose 
majesty they publicly outraged and defied? Where would right 
and justice be if there were no other world, with no heaven for 
the tortured victims of impiety, and with no hell for cruel and 
licentious tyrants? Shall there be no distinction between the 
just and the wicked, between the saints and the sinners? 

25 St. Thomas in II Sentent., dist. xxxvii, art. 5; Mark iii. 29.— "Guilty 
of an everlasting sin." 



PAST IX 

OBJECTIONS AGAINST ETERNAL PUNISHMENT 
AND THEIR SOLUTION 

CHAPTER I 
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS 

571. I. The remarks in Part VIII have been inserted with a 
view to anticipate several of the leading difficulties commonly 
adduced against that dogma, and to supply the reader with such 
principles as are deemed available for their solution. It is evi- 
dent that our limited space will not allow us to refer to all the 
objections raised by our opponents against this Article of Chris- 
tian Faith. 

This, however, is not necessary, for as a distinguished writer 
in the Dublin Review x wisely remarks, "we are not bound to 
solve all the difficulties that may be urged against a given thesis 
which is abundantly proved by such argument as cannot be re- 
futed. Even in matters of physical science no one expects that. 
There are difficulties against the law of gravitation itself which 
have not as yet been solved; yet no one thinks of doubting the 
existence of that law. If the objection amounted to an evident 
demonstration that a certain proposition was self-contradictory, 
that is to say, in the language of the schools, metaphysically im- 
possible, we should then be obliged to abandon the thesis. But 
if the difficulty is plainly one which we cannot solve, merely for 
want of sufficient information, right reason will only bid us wait, 
and not necessarily doubt." Thus, as Lessius remarks, 2 the 
chief reason why some difficulty is experienced regarding the 
punishment of mortal sin by eternal pains lies in the fact of our 
deficient knowledge of the exceeding gravity of sin, and of the 
infinite holiness of God, against whom it is committed. 

572. II. Joseph de Maistre, the renowned statesman, writes: 
' ' When a truth of the natural order, or a dogma of divine revela- 
tion is thoroughly demonstrated, no objection, however forcible, 
can disprove it. For, so long as the arguments on which the 
demonstration is based are not refuted, the truth remains un- 
touched, and all the difficulties raised against it, if they cannot 

i January, 1881, p. 139. 2 Lib. xiii, nn. 163, 187. 

435 



436 Chief Objections Against Hell's Eternity 

be completely answered, will simply prove the incapacity of 
our mind, but they cannot convince us of the error of the doc- 
trine or truths concerned. ' ' 3 Now, our readers will admit that 
our thesis on the existence and everlasting duration of hell's 
punishment has been fully demonstrated from the testimonies 
of divine revelation, the authority of the Catholic Church, the 
belief of the Protestant and schismatic churches, the witnesses 
of Christian tradition, the testimony of the martyrs, and the 
general consent of mankind. And sound reason, besides alleging 
no valid argument against it, furnishes, as we show, many con- 
firmatory proofs. If the preceding observations are borne in 
mind, it will appear that the divinely revealed doctrine of end- 
less punishment in the world to come has nothing to fear from 
any objections raised against it. As Cardinal Newman says in 
his ''Grammar of Assent," "Ten thousand difficulties do not 
make a doubt. ' ' 

573. III. Our present task is to examine the principal diffi- 
culties raised by unbelievers and other opponents against the doc- 
trine of hell 's eternity, and to furnish such answers as will prove 
fully satisfactory, we hope, to every fair-minded man, to any 
one, we mean, who, free from prejudice and open to conviction, 
is desirous of attaining the truth on this weighty, divinely re- 
vealed doctrine. 

The dogma of the eternity of hell's torments is certainly the 
most terrific among the truths proclaimed by divine revelation — 
an article of faith which has aroused the most violent rebellion 
aganist it, not only from the ranks of the infidel world, but also 
from men who claim to be staunch believers and supporters of 
the Gospel and religion of Christ. Convinced, as we are, that all 
their difficulties can be satisfactorily solved, we will not hesitate 
to state them in all their bald language and apparent strength, 
without belittling their argumentative value, whatever that may 
be. It is needless to remark that we are here dealing not with 
imaginary, but with real difficulties to be met with in the works 
of infidels, Unitarians and other adversaries of this Christian 
dogma. 

574. IV. The foregoing observations may be further developed 
by bearing in mind the following rule or principle of sound 
logic: There is a great difference between an insoluble ques- 
tion regarding some truth and an insoluble objection against a 
proposed doctrine. 

An objection is held to be insoluble against a given doctrine 
when it is shown that the terms of the controverted proposition 
are incompatible, incoherent, that is, self-destructive or contra- 
dictory. Thus, by proving that matter cannot think because of 
its inertia, we oppose to the teaching of the materialists an in- 
soluble objection by showing that it implies contradictory terms, 

s Soirees de St. Petersburg, vol. i, p. 256. 



And Their Solution 437 

such as activity on the part of thought, and inertia on the part 
of matter, two ideas completely irreconcilable. 

An insoluble question occurs when we endeavor to harmonize 
two truths, whose mutual reconciliation may be difficult to under- 
stand. It is plain that the insoluble objection is derived from 
the clear idea of the opposition of the terms, whilst the insoluble 
question springs from the imperfect or limited knowledge of the 
terms in which it is proposed. The insoluble objection comes 
into direct collision with the claims of reason ; and, as it cannot 
be satisfactorily answered, it remains victorious, as it shows that 
the statement advanced is false and absurd. 

The insoluble question arises not from the presence of con- 
tradictory terms, but from the ignorance or limited knowledge 
of our reasoning faculties regarding the subject with which we 
are dealing. Hence we are quite right in rejecting a doctrine 
proved false by an insoluble objection raised against it; but we 
should be entirely wrong in refusing to admit an apparently in- 
soluble question. Thus, we may experience some difficulty in 
reconciling human liberty with divine foreknowledge, but we 
should not be justified in denying either. 

To cite an example that more directly concerns us at this point 
of our work, some difficulty is experienced in reconciling these 
two truths; namely, the eternal punishment of the wicked with 
the infinite goodness of God, who inflicts it. Father Lessius re- 
marks, as noticed above, that the difficulty springs chiefly from 
the fact of our deficient knowledge of the gravity of mortal sin, 
and of the infinite holiness of God offended by it. 4 

Thus, both from human reason and divine revelation, we learn 
that God is infinitely wise, just, and good ; and the same divine 
revelation assures us that He inflicts eternal punishment on the 
wicked that die impenitent. No doubt whatever can be ration- 
ally entertained on either of those truths, though a greater or 
lesser difficulty may be experienced in reconciling those divine 
attributes with the everlasting penalty of the reprobates. There- 
fore, though the question we speak of may appear to some in- 
vestigators to be insoluble, yet they cannot be justified in reject- 
ing it as untrue and absurd or repugnant to reason. 

575. It is an obvious fact that it is much easier to pull down 
than to build up. Hence a wrecking-crew will, in a few days, 
level to the ground a house or palace which it may have taken 
many months to construct. Something like this occurs in con- 
troversy. Opponents bent on disproving and rejecting some 
unwelcome truths, will in a few words advance gratuitous asser- 
tions and bold denials that will require several pages to refute, 
and this for the following reason: Erroneous statements and 
false theories cannot be triumphantly confuted unless the ad- 
versary's sophisms are exposed, and the principles and truths 

* Lib. xiii, c. xxv. 



438 Chief Objections Against Hell's Eternity 

called in question defended, so as to close all avenues of escape 
and cut the ground from under the opponent 's feet. 

Such being the argumentative method we have adopted, the 
intelligent reader will not be surprised at seeing that our re- 
plies are considerably more lengthy than the objections. A 
simpleton [the other term beginning with f is unparliamentary] 
may put a question which it will take all the learning of the seven 
wise men of Greece to answer. 



CHAPTER II 

A DIALOGUE : ITS REASONS AND METHOD 

576. It has been thought advisable to present the difficulties 
and objections against the dogma of eternal punishment and 
their solution in the form of a kind of Socratic dialogue between 
two interlocutors, a Parishioner and an old Curate. The 
Parishioner, a fairly well instructed and well-meaning practical 
Catholic, is the owner and manager of a city hotel, well pa- 
tronized and frequented by different classes of people, business 
men, bankers, lawyers, physicians, school teachers, clergymen of 
different denominations, university professors, society ladies, 
tourists, etc. To be sociable with his guests he must, of course, 
spend some time with them in the lobby or in the spacious par- 
lors. He finds, on these occasions, that the conversation often 
turns on religious topics, and his Catholic faith, if not weakened, 
is at times, at least, considerably shaken and disturbed by the 
strange, unchristian things he has to hear. He has also observed 
that the question of future retribution, and particularly the 
Catholic doctrine on hell and its eternity, is frequently brought 
up. The flippant talker seems to have the monopoly of the 
discussion, and he generally takes the negative side of that vexed 
question. He has also noticed tha'; only very seldom some timid 
characters venture to dissent. He regrets that more than once 
he was at a loss how to answer some pretty tough objections. 
At all events, when nearly cornered by some clever disputant, 
he would manage to extricate himself from the embarrassing situ- 
ation by acting on the advice of the Curate, an old friend of 
his, who, in a lecture on the evidences of the Catholic religion, 
told his parishioners how to answer and silence those who should 
attack their faith. 

577. "It is true," said the Curate on that occasion, "that all 
Catholics should know their Catechism and endeavor to retain 
what they have learned and also to improve their knowledge by 
attending church regularly, listening to the sermons and instruc- 
tions, and by reading Catholic books and subscribing for Cath- 
olic journals, magazines, etc. Those, however, who have the 



And Their Solution 439 

leisure, the ability, and the means, ought to strive to increase 
their knowledge of our holy religion so as to become more and 
more confirmed in their faith, which, on account of their social 
position, may be more frequently attacked. 

"But, it may be asked: What about our lay people, labor- 
ers, workers in factories, mothers of families, business men, 
clerks, or even professional men, such as doctors, lawyers, etc? 
Are they bound to make such a study of our religion as would fit 
them to defend it against all assailants, and to solve all the diffi- 
culties raised by our opponents? 

"No; by no means. First of all, in the majority of cases, 
such a study would be practically impossible: and, even when 
possible, there is no obligation to undertake it. Divine Provi- 
dence has adopted a far wiser plan. A special class of men are 
set aside for that task ; the members of the Teaching Church, 
the members of the ecclesiastical hierarchy, who, consecrated to 
the service of God and of His Church, are the divinely appointed 
religious teachers of men. On this account, one of their chief 
duties is the study of the Faith, and its explanation and defense. 
The grace of vocation is the surest guarantee of the heavenly 
help they need to discharge those obligations with success. The 
result proves that they have been faithful to their task. 

' ' Speaking now only of the Christian era, we may say, without 
fear of contradiction from any quarter, that most of the im- 
mense literature devoted to the exposition and defense of our 
Faith is the production of the members of the hierarchy — Popes, 
bishops, and priests. Their numberless works, covering the 
whole field of religious knowledge, fill the libraries of the civilized 
world and constitute a vast arsenal, supplying, in every language 
spoken by man, weapons for repelling every attack, past, present, 
and future. Hence the reason why the Lord thus speaks 
through His prophet Malachias: 'The lips of the priests shall 
keep knowledge, and they [the people] shall seek the law at his 
mouth ; because he is the angel of the Lord of hosts. ' x And in 
the New Testament we find that among the counsels given by St. 
Paul to Timothy, bishop of Ephesus, the principal are those 
which concern the necessity for prelates and priests of the study 
and defense of the Faith. Thus, in his first letter to him, his 
convert and disciple, he writes: 'Take heed to thyself and to 
doctrine ; be earnest in them. For in doing this, thou shalt both 
save thyself and them that hear thee. ' 2 

578. "Neither must we overlook the fact that it is to His min- 
isters that Christ made the solemn promise of divine assistance, 
particularly when they should be summoned before the civil 
magistrates to justify their preaching of His Gospel. 'I will 
give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall 
not be able to resist or gainsay. ' 3 

i Malach. ii. 7. 2 1 Tim. iv. 16. s Luke xxi. 15. 



440 Chief Objections Against Hell's Eternity 

579. ''What, then," the Curate pertinently continued, "have 
our Catholic laity to do when outsiders, Protestants or infidels, 
misrepresent and attack their faith ? They must resort to what 
is called the Indirect Demonstration. They should refer their 
questioners and inquiries to the authority of the Church, to the 
doctrine of theologians and their writings ; an appeal very effec- 
tive and placed within the reach of all. The answer might be 
given in the following terms : 

11 'I am perfectly convinced and sure of the truth which the 
Catholic Church teaches and I feel exceedingly happy in posses- 
sing this truth. But although I am not sufficiently learned to 
furnish all the proof and explanations which you demand, yet I 
know that complete and rigorous demonstrations have been given 
by the most learned men from the time of the apostles to our 
own days. These demonstrations exist in numberless Catholic 
books. Our priests are always ready to expound our doctrine to 
any one that chooses to call on them for that purpose. If you 
really desire to know the truth and to be instructed by compe- 
tent teachers, you will not hesitate to follow my advice and con- 
sult some Catholic priest, a step which you will be willing to 
take if you recall these two Scriptural incidents regarding con- 
verts to the Faith: First, that of Saul who, struck down near 
Damascus, exclaimed: "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? 
And the Lord said to him. Arise and go into the city, and there 
it shall be told thee what thou must do." 4 Secondly, that of 
Philip, the Deacon, asking the eunuch who returning from Jeru- 
salem was reading the prophet Isaias: "Thinkest thou that 
thou understandest what thou readest? Who said: And how 
can I unless some man show me?" ' 5 

"As in civil society, doctors will not undertake to solve legal 
problems, and lawyers will refrain from prescribing medicines 
for the sick, so in the Catholic Church the lay members are not 
expected to master the science of theology and pose as teachers 
of religion. They know, however, that the Saviour of the world, 
by founding His Church and instituting the priesthood, has 
made ample provision for the preservation and defense of our 
holy Faith, and thus furnished to the world very competent 
teachers of the most necessary science, the science of salvation. 

" As we learn from St. Bede and other Fathers, the Apostle St. 
Peter, when he wrote that the faithful should be prepared to give 
a reason of their faith and hope, He did not mean to impose 
on them the obligation of disputing with heretics, but simply 
desired that they should always bear in mind the authority of 
the Church, the pillar and ground of truth, who is protected 
against error in her teaching by the assistance of the Holy 
Ghost." 6 

4 Acts ix. 6, 7. s Ibid. viii. 29, 30. 

6 I Peter iii.15. See comment of Cornelius a Lapide. 



And Their Solution 441 

580. After this necessary digression, we return to our Pa- 
rishioner. Anxious to know how the several objections he heard 
against the endless duration of future punishment should be 
answered, he wrote down some of the most startling and arranged 
with the Curate for a series of interviews, in which he intended 
to propose them and learn the answers for his own personal and 
private instruction, and he expressed a wish that they might be 
published for the benefit of others. Hence the origin of the fol- 
lowing dialogue . 

It is scarcely necessary for me to inform the reader that the 
several incidents and circumstances connected with the framing 
of the dialogue are purely fictitious, though neither improbable 
nor impossible. But what is extremely important for me to re- 
mark is the fact that the difficulties and objections proposed by 
the Parishioner to the Curate are far from being fictitious. They 
are contained in books, they are heard in lecture-halls, they ap- 
pear in the daily press, they are seen in more pretentious publi- 
cations such as monthly magazines and quarterly reviews. This 
is the antichristian, infidel literature that is spread throughout 
the length and breadth of the land to poison, pervert, and ruin 
countless souls. 



CHAPTER III 
DIFFICULTIES I TO VII 

DIFFICULTY I 

581. Parishioner. — This is what one of the gentlemen — a 
guest — said : "If the punishment of the wicked is to be eternal, 
then it would follow that they will never attain that eternal hap- 
piness for which they felt an irresistible craving. Hence that 
natural desire, implanted in man 's mind and heart by God Him- 
self, in their case will be forever frustrated. Now is it not 
plainly absurd, nay, unjust, that such tendencies and aspirations 
imprinted in every individual of the human race by God's infi- 
nite wisdom and goodness should never be realized % ' ' 

582. Curate. — Those who allege this difficulty evidently base 
their reasoning on a false supposition. They suppose that the 
primary, nay, the only end for which God created man was to 
make him happy in the world to come. This view, however, is not 
theologically true, for God, in bringing the rational creatures into 
existence, had two ends in view: one primary and absolute, the 
other secondary and conditional. The primary end, the one 
which God Almighty must and will infallibly obtain, even in 
spite of the creature's rebellion against the divine law, was His 
extrinsic glory resulting from the exterior manifestation of His 



442 Chief Objections Against Hell's Eternity 

divine attributes and perfections, such as wisdom, goodness, 
mercy, power, and justice. The secondary end, we admit, was 
the perfection and happiness of man, the attainment of which 
from the nature of the case, is essentially conditional, being 
made dependent on the spontaneous co-operation of all rational 
creatures capable of free aets of obedience to the divine will. 
Therefore, with regard to the reprobates, it is they that wilfully 
deprive themselves of their happiness. Hence, as St. Augus- 
tine remarks, 1 the wicked, by their own final impenitence or 
death in the state of grievous sin, rob themselves of the greatest 
goods, and plunge themselves into the abyss of the greatest evils ; 
and will, in their torments, proclaim the power and justice of 
God, whose mercy and goodness they despised and rejected whilst 
it was within their reach in the present life; and, seeing the 
evident justice of their punishment, they will be compelled to ex- 
claim : ' ' Thou art just, Lord, and Thy judgment is right. ' ' 2 
Thus the insults flung in the face of God's infinite majesty by 
obstinate sinners are fully repaired, and the violated moral order 
completely vindicated and restored. For a fuller understand- 
ing of the doctrine of the Catholic Church on the end of man, a 
doctrine resting on the authority of divine revelation, see Intro- 
duction and Part I. (See n. 557.) 

DIFFICULTY II 

583. Parishioner. — This is what I heard from a lawyer, who, 
arguing from a legal point of view, said: "Among the reasons 
I have for not admitting the dogma of hell's eternity there is 
this: I see no equity or just proportion between an offense 
committed in a few seconds or minutes, perhaps, and the dura- 
tion of its punishment, which will never end." 

584. Curate. — Here our opponent evidently speaks of a pro- 
portion of duration. But does justice, whether human or divine, 
require that there should be this kind of proportion? By no 
means. In fact, is there any code of criminal jurisprudence 
which, in determining the infliction of punishment for a given 
crime, will take as a measure or rule the length of time employed 
in committing it? In an instant of time a murderer may, in 
cold blood, shoot down his victim. And do not the civil tribunals 
punish homicide by imprisonment for life, or, as it is most fre- 
quently the case, by capital punishment, which is, we may say, 
equivalent to an eternal punishment? Neither do men con- 
sider such procedure unjust ; for the law does not determine the 
amount of punishment by the time occupied in committing the 
offense, but by the nature of the offense itself, whose gravity 
is measured from the motive of the criminal, from his purpose, 
his premeditation, and other circumstances connected with it. 

i De Spirit, et Litter., c. xxxiii, n 58. 

2Ps. cxviii. 137. See also Wisdom, v. 1-14. 



And Their Solution 443 

Now, if our adversary can find no injustice in such judgments of 
men, how can he accuse of injustice the judgments of God? 

We find no difficulty in admitting that a penalty, to be just, 
must be proportionate to the gravity of the offense ; and as, by 
the commission of mortal sin, man becomes guilty of an outrage 
against God's infinite majesty, the greatest insult we can 
imagine, so it is just that so grievous an offense should call for a 
proportionate punishment, such as that which God, the Supreme 
Lawgiver and Judge, has threatened; a punishment finite in in- 
tensity, but infinite in duration. 

The Angelic Doctor treating of this very question writes : " In 
no court of justice is it required that the punishment should be 
adapted to the fault in point of duration. For though murder 
or any other crime may be committed in a moment, it is not, on 
that account, punished with the penalty of a moment, but some- 
times with perpetual imprisonment, or exile, sometimes also with 
death ; in which latter case we must consider not the time taken 
in executing the offender, but its consequences, that is, the fact 
that he is cut off for all time from the fellowship of the living, 
thus in some manner representing the eternity of punishment in- 
flicted by God. " 3 

The duration of the punishment is justly made to correspond 
not to the duration of the criminal act, but to the permanence of 
the stain or guilt of said act ; and so long as such guilt or stain 
lasts, as in the case of sinners dying impenitent, its punishment 
also will last, that is, for ever. So much we learn from Christ's 
own words : "He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, 
. . . shall be guilty of an everlasting sin. ' ' 4 

DIFFICULTY III 

585. Parishioner. — On one occasion, a lady, known in town 
as a zealous member of the Unitarian Church, said with some 
kind of asperity : ' ' How is it possible for any rational mind to 
believe that Almighty God, who is infinitely good and merciM, 
should punish sinners, poor mortals, with endless penalties ? ' ' 

586. Curate.— God, it is true, is infinitely good and merciful, 
but He is also infinitely just ; and it is precisely on account of 
His attribute of infinite goodness and justice that He is bound 
to impose efficacious restraints on sinners, and thus prevent them 
from defying Him with impunity. If iniquity is so rampant in 
our days, notwithstanding the conviction in most men of their 
responsibility to a Supreme Judge, and of the existence of fu- 
ture eternal retribution, what would become of mankind if that 
salutary restraint did not exist, and men had consequently 
nothing to fear from a judgment to come? God is good, nay, 
infinitely good, and it is exactly owing to His goodness that He 

3 St. Thomas la 2ae, q. lxxxvii, art. 3, 4. * Mark iii. 29. 



444 Chief Objections Against Hell's Eternity 

will neither allow iniquity to triumph for ever with impunity, 
nor permit that His faithful, loyal subjects, the just, should be 
abandoned into the hands of the wicked, to be oppressed and 
trampled upon by them without restraint. God is indeed good 
and merciful; but does reason tell us that the exercise of His 
goodness should be such as to encourage man's rebellion, and 
shield the sinner's wickedness and perversity? God's goodness 
does not, however, exclude His love of order and justice, and His 
infinite hatred of that which is contrary to His sanctity; hence 
His abhorrence of whatever violates His sacred rights — His in- 
dubitable and inalienable rights to the creature's submission, 
loyalty, and obedience. If, therefore, sinners despise His laws 
and resist the invitations of His mercy, they must, in the end, 
fall under the rigor of His justice. Hence the terrible sanction 
of eternal punishment has been wisely decreed by the Supreme 
Judge to check the criminal career of the wicked and to pro- 
tect the just against their iniquitous persecutions. 

Moreover, though the attribute of God's goodness is infinite, 
yet its external manifestation or exercise on behalf of sinners 
cannot be infinite, for it can never be exhausted ; hence its out- 
ward effects, always regulated by divine wisdom, are essentially 
finite, as the creatures on whom they are bestowed are also 
finite. Therefore, no injustice is done to rebellious, impenitent 
sinners if, by their obstinacy, they render themselves unworthy 
of God's mercy — nay, actually reject it. The present life is the 
period of time given to man for his trial. He is left free to 
choose for himself either good or evil ; but the choice once made 
and not retracted, even on the threshold of eternity, remains 
irrevocable. For the future world is not a place of probation, 
but of stability; it is not the way, but the goal; and the lot, 
whether good or evil, which he has chosen, shall be his forever. 
The following testimonies from Holy Writ prove the truth of our 
assertions: "The Lord hath set water and fire before thee; 
stretch forth thy hand to which thou wilt. Before man is life 
and death, good and evil; that which he shall choose shall be 
given him. " 5 "If the tree fall to the south or to the north, in 
what place soever it shall fall, there it shall be. " 6 After the 
trial of the present life man can no longer change his lot. Either 
forever a king upon a throne, or forever a slave in a dungeon : 
either forever in joy or forever in sorrow ; either forever happy 
or forever miserable. In the present life God displays, in a most 
striking degree, the attribute of His mercy; but if the sinner 
persists to the end in enmity with his Maker, and falls into the 
hands of God's justice, he can only blame himself for his irrep- 
arable damnation. As the Apostle St. Paul warns us, "It is a 
fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. ' ' 7 

Therefore God rejects in the world to come the impenitent sin- 
s Ecclus. xv. 17, 18. 6 Eccles. xi. 3. i Heb. x. 31. 



And Their Solution 445 

ners only because they rejected and condemned themselves in the 
present. Of their own accord, and notwithstanding the terrific 
warnings of conscience, of reason, and of divine revelation, they 
preferred sin and enmity of God to God's grace and friendship ; 
they preferred the eternal pains of hell to the everlasting joys 
of heaven ; the sojourn of Satan to the mansions of God and of 
His saints. "Destruction is thy own, Israel; thy help is only 
in Me." 8 

DIFFICULTY IV 

587. Parishioner. — One evening the discussion was not only 
lively, but even boisterous, particularly when a gray-haired uni- 
versity professor rose from his seat and, assuming an authorita- 
tive tone, said aloud : ' ' The more I study this question the more 
convinced I become that everlasting punishment is absolutely in- 
compatible with what we know of the goodness of God. He is 
by nature a Father too tender-hearted to condemn any of His 
children to an eternal hell. ' ' Some of his sympathizers ventured 
to applaud. 

588. Curate. — It must be admitted that, in our days, the de- 
nial of everlasting punishment of the wicked is not, by any 
means, confined to a few theorists, who have little or no influence 
outside their own circle. On the contrary, prominent churchmen 
and laymen of every sectarian creed are taking the new doctrine 
avowedly under their wing, and employing all the resources of 
their learning and eloquence in supporting and spreading it far 
and wide. Among their most devoted disciples are reckoned 
frivolous worldlings not at all unwilling to think that, according 
to their masters, the sanctions of religious belief are not, after 
all, so very stringent in our age, as they used to be represented 
by deluded rigorist preachers of times gone by. According to all 
these advocates of the milder gospel, God is a Father, but not a 
Judge, Christ is a lamb, but not the roaring lion of Juda; the 
Holy Ghost is a dove, but not a consuming fire. Sin is but a hu- 
man weakness, we all share it in a greater or less degree. God 
is surely not less compassionate than man is, and so forth. 

What shall we say to all this ? We reply that the wounds of 
the soul are too deep to be reached by a gospel of mere maudlin 
sentiment. Rose-water is very refreshing as an external appli- 
cation in health; but he is a sorry physician surely who should 
seek to cure gangrene or cancer with it. The so-called modern 
milder view of God's judgments is but a sentimental, effeminate 
religion, a religion of warm flesh and blood, which lacks the solid 
frame-work of definite, uncompromising doctrine; a religion, in 
other words, made up of cordial potions and mollifying ointments 
from which the bitterness of strong, wholesome, active medicine 
is carefully excluded. To speak very plainly, God save us from 
a gospel which conceals the all but desperate evil of man 's heart 

8 Osee, xiii. 9. 



446 Chief Objections Against Hell's Eternity 

and his imminent danger of everlasting damnation and speaks to 
him only the smoother parts of truth. A gospel which muffles 
up hell from human view and too often makes insinuations 
against its eternal duration, or its very existence, is certainly 
not the Lord 's Gospel ; and we, if we care for our salvation, must 
want none other than His. But, at the same time, God forbid 
that we should represent the Divine Saviour's Gospel otherwise 
than as full of brightest hope and encouragement to all who will 
part company with sin. The province of human effort lies in the 
strong, earnest resolve to be holy and loyal to the Lord. Who- 
ever has such a will, though firmly believing in the reality of 
eternal pains, shall do works of righteousness more from motives 
of gratitude and love than from the constraining fear of the end- 
less punishment awaiting the impenitent beyond the grave. 

589. "If sin is so fatal, and hell is and must be so rigorous, 
awful, yet in repentance, too, is man purified. Repentance is 
the grand Christian act . . . the whole mountain shakes with 
joy, and a psalm of praise rises, when one soul has perfected 
repentance, and got the sin and misery left behind. ' ' 9 

590. God's justice inflicting eternal punishment on the repro- 
bates is not at all opposed to His goodness, for those two at- 
tributes do not refer to the same subject. In fact, mercy or good- 
ness is intended to grant pardon to repenting sinners, whilst 
justice is directed to chastise the impenitent. Hence these two 
attributes are never found conflicting with each other. The 
effects or results of these two attributes are different, it is true, 
but there is no contradiction or opposition between them when 
exercised toward God's rational creatures. On the contrary, 
they are in perfect harmony, so much so that God would not be 
good if He were not also just. Goodness and justice spring 
from the same divine perfection, God's essence, with which they 
are identified; but their outward operations — operationes ad 
extra — as theologians teach us, differ according to the dispositions 
or conditions of the subjects on which they are exercised. Hence, 
as God would act against His justice if He should leave un- 
punished the obstinate transgressors of His laws, so He would 
act in opposition to His mercy and His promises if He were to 
refuse pardon to repentant sinners during the present time, the 
period assigned by Divine Providence to their trial or probation. 

DIFFICULTY V 

591. Parishioner. — The same evening a newspaper editor en- 
deavored to sustain the view of the old university sage and 
added: "To admit that a God of infinite love inflicts on His 
creatures a punishment that shall never end is to admit in Him 
an evident contradiction, for infinite love and eternal penalties 

9 Carlyle on Dante's Purgatorio. 



And Their Solution 447 

are contradictory terms that cannot be reconciled." The pro- 
fessor nodded to him in sign of approval. 

592. Curate.— The strength of this difficulty rests on a theo- 
logical misconception, nay, a downright heretical supposition. 
God's love is indeed infinite in itself, as all His other attributes, as 
goodness, mercy, wisdom, justice, omnipotence, etc. But His 
love, as well as His other attributes and perfections, cannot be 
said to be infinite in their outward manifestations in relation to 
His creatures. The first obvious reason of this statement is based 
on the fact that, if God 's external manifestation of His attributes 
were also infinite, then every act of His omnipotence would pro- 
duce an infinite effect, and we should consequently have an in- 
finite world, a metaphysical absurdity, for no contingent being 
can be infinite. 

593. Mr. J. A. Froude, a blasphemous opponent of the very 
existence of hell, whilst vainly trying to refute Leibnitz's argu- 
ment in favor of the justice of eternal punishment, utters a meta- 
physical blunder by saying that ' ' hell 's punishment becomes in- 
finite because inflicted by an infinite Being." According to the 
philosophy of this Oxford professor, everything that God has 
made is infinite, because the work of an infinite Creator. 10 

Hence, though God's love is infinite in itself, yet it cannot be 
infinite ad extra, that is, in its external manifestations, on be- 
half of His intelligent creatures, whether angels or men. Those 
who argue that a God of infinite love cannot be the author of an 
eternal hell, must prove that because God's love is infinite in it- 
self, He is therefore bound to exert that infinite love to its full 
extent on behalf of His creatures, and therefore abolish hell. 
This reasoning is evidently false and illogical, because it supposes 
that the attribute of God's goodness or love, because infinite in 
itself, must also be infinite in all its outward manifestations; 
a conclusion evidently wrong, because founded on the erroneous 
principle pointed out above. Hence he who talks of God's in- 
finite love toward men, if he means that He must love them in- 
finitely, talks nonsense. When we say that the Lord is a 
God of infinite love, we mean indeed that He loves Himself and 
His infinite attributes and perfections with an infinite love ; and 
that, as to His creatures, He loves them in proportion to their 
likeness to Himself. Hence, when such likeness ceases to exist, 
because destroyed by mortal sin, then God's love is changed into 
a reverse attitude, and literally transformed into hatred. 

594. That our acceptance before God, and consequent eternal 
salvation depends on our resemblance to His Incarnate Son by 
grace is clearly stated by St. Paul in the following sentence of 
his epistle to the Romans: "To be made conformable to the 
image of His Son. " 1X As to God 's attitude toward sinners, 

io Froude, The Nemesis of Faith, 2nd Ed., pp. 17, 18. " Rom. viii. 29. 



448 Chief Objections Against H ell's Eternity 

who not only marred and disfigured this image in their soul, but 
entirely effaced it and "received [instead] the character of the 
beast, ' ' 12 we see it clearly expressed in the following passages 
of Holy Scripture, and many others, that could, if needed, be 
easily alleged : "And the Lord shall say to you : I know you not, 
whence you are; Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity." 13 
' * Thou, O Lord, hatest all the workers of iniquity. " 14 "To God 
the wicked and his wickedness are hateful alike. ' ' 15 Hence 
God tolerates sinners, offers to them His grace, and waits for 
their conversion; but He cannot be said to extend to them the 
love of friendship and affection which He cherishes for those 
of His creatures who love, obey, and fear Him. 

Almighty God can indeed propose as His positive and ante- 
cedent end the manifestation of His goodness and mercy ; but He 
may not propose to Himself as His positive and antecedent end 
the manifestation and exercise of this vindicative justice, accord- 
ing to the cruel Calvinistic creed still adopted by some Presby- 
terian factions. He can antecedently wish to reward; but His 
deliberation to punish can only be consequent; that is, owing 
to his foreknowledge of the wilful and obstinate rebellion of His 
creatures. Such is the doctrine of St. Thomas Aquinas. 16 Those 
who remove themselves by sin from the merciful and bountiful 
design of the divine will fall back into the opposite design of the 
same divine will by rendering themselves amenable to the well- 
merited punishment of God's justice. We may escape the do- 
minion of men, but we cannot escape the dominion of God. "It 
is impossible, O Lord, to escape Thy hand. ' ' 17 And saith the 
Lord : "I will strike and I will heal, and there is none that can 
deliver out of My hand." 18 Willing or unwilling, we must sub- 
mit to it. We must either live under the empire of His love or 
under that of His justice; either glorify His goodness by free 
obedience or glorify His power and justice by inevitable pun- 
ishment. In other words, we may choose to spend our eternity 
with God and His angels in heaven, or to spend it with Satan and 
the reprobates in hell. (See n. 559.) 

DIFFICULTY VI 

595. Parishioner. — A Unitarian minister, an enthusiastic ad- 
mirer of the late Henry Ward Beecher, quoted from one of his 
sermons the following sentence, which had caused a great sensa- 
tion in New York and elsewhere: "I will never let go of the 
truth that the nature of God is to suffer for others, rather than 
to make them suffer." 19 

596. Curate. — According to this view men may go on sinning 
with impunity, for the Divine Redeemer has already taken all 

12 Apoc. xix. 20. 13 Luke xiii. 27. i* Ps. v. 7. " Wis. xiv. 9. 

16 Summa, P. I. la, q. xix, art. 6, 8. 17 Wis. xvi. 15. 

is Deut. xxxii. 39. i» Defense, p. 1. 



And Their Solution 449 

the punishment in their stead. Is not this a most outrageous, 
antichristian view of the purpose of Redemption? Let us 
rather listen to the Divine Saviour Himself, who, on the very 
day of His passion, on the way to Calvary, uttered this warning 
to all sinners : " If in the green wood they do these things, what 
shall be done in the dry ? " 20 By which words Christ meant to 
say: "If such severe sufferings are, by divine permission, in- 
flicted on me, who like a fertile tree am loaded with fruits of 
holiness and good works, what punishment must they expect, 
who like a dead barren tree bear no fruit of salvation, but only 
works of iniquity?" "If," writes St. Peter, "the just man 
shall scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner 
appear ? " 21 

597. Father Nampon, S. J., in his work on the Decrees of the 
Council of Trent, alluding to the horrible doctrine of Luther — 
"Crede firmiter et pecca fortiter." — "Believe firmly and sin 
boldly" — quotes the following extract from a letter, which that 
apostate, lustful monk wrote to his friend Melancthon in 1521 : 

"If you preach grace, preach the reality and not the appear- 
ance of it. If grace is a reality, bring it a true substantial sin 
[to cure] and not a mere semblance of sin. God does not save 
those who have only a semblance of sin. Sin, then, and sin 
stoutly, but still more stoutly trust and rejoice in Jesus Christ, 
who is the conqueror of sin and death and of the world. We 
must sin so long as we are here below. This is not the habita- 
tion of justice. Sin will not separate us from the Lamb who 
taketh away the sins of the world. Though we committed a 
thousand murders and a thousand fornications in a single day, 
can you believe that a Lamb so precious has not superabund- 
antly paid the ransom of all our crimes ? ' ' 

DIFFICULTY VII 

598. Parishioner. — A young man, a university graduate, who 
had been recently appointed Judge of the Superior Court, took 
part in the discussion and said : "I am fully aware of the fact 
that the question of future, endless retribution touches on both 
philosophical and theological points in which, I candidly admit, 
I am far from being an adept. I shall, however, approach that 
question from a judicial point of view, a department of knowl- 
edge which I had to master as a condition for my present official 
position. I must take a decisive stand against any Church 
whose ministers hold and preach the so-called dogma of eternal 
punishment. Such a doctrine is directly opposed to the intent 
and purpose of all punitive legislation, which is the correction 
and reform of criminals. If such is the procedure of human jur- 
isprudence, which we know to be in itself imperfect, the same 

20 Luke xxiii. 31. 

21 1 Peter iv. 18. See also Cursus Scripturae Migne, vol. xxii, p. 1377. 



450 Chief Objections Against Hell's Eternity 

purpose of punishment must, with stronger reason (a fortiori), 
be found in the divine legislation, which is essentially perfect." 
He then resumed his seat amidst the applause of the audience, 
among whom some were heard to exclaim: "A Daniel come to 
Judgment! wise young Judge! noble Judge!" 

599. Curate. — The whole structure of this objection rests on a 
false foundation, on a wrong principle, as it takes it for granted 
that the main purpose of punitive laws, whether human or di- 
vine, are directed to reform the criminals, and to deter others 
from evil-doing, which we emphatically deny. The wrong foun- 
dation being then removed, the whole superstructure totters and 
crumbles to the ground. That this twofold object may be aimed 
at and occasionally obtained, in purely human penalties, barring 
capital punishment, we freely admit ; though we hold that even 
then the guilty are chastised principally as a reparation of the 
moral order violated by the criminals in transgressing the civil 
laws. But with regard to endless punishment inflicted by the 
Supreme Judge, its main purpose is the vindication of the moral 
order violated by sin, and the reparation of the outrage done to 
the divine majesty by the sinner, who, after grievously offend- 
ing his Sovereign Creator and greatest Benefactor, obstinately 
perseveres in his rebellion, and, by refusing to repent in his life- 
time, chooses to remain in perpetual enmity against God. Jesus 
Christ spoke of this awful crime, by which the sinner signs and 
seals his own eternal damnation, when He said : ' ' He that shall 
blaspheme against the Holy Ghost shall never have forgiveness, 
but shall be guilty of an everlasting sin. ' ' 22 Hence the execu- 
tion of justice is the first and primary consideration and consti- 
tutes the very essence and chief purpose of punishment. On this 
account the sinner's penalties are intended as a reparation of 
the divine offense and an expiation, though fruitless as to the 
effacing of the guilt of his sins committed through the abuse of 
his liberty. As St. Augustine remarks, "Almighty God has a 
twofold purpose in His legislation ; one aims at the display of His 
goodness, the other exhibits the exercise of His justice. The ra- 
tional creature that, by the abuse of its free will, subtracts it- 
self from the order of God's bounty, chooses of its own accord 
to fall into the order of His justice and incurs all the conse- 
quences it entails." 23 (See n. 71.) 

600. Here we must notice the fact that those who advance the 
objection we are refuting base their reasoning on another prin- 
ciple that is radically wrong, for they maintain that the princi- 
pal end of creation is not the glory of God, but the happiness of 
His rational creatures, angels and men. This principle, as we 
have shown in Part I, is directly opposed to divine revelation, 
which teaches us that "The Lord made all things for Himself; 
the wicked also for the evil day. ' ' 24 Then, in determining the 

22 Mark iii. 29. 23 De Civit. Dei. 24 Prov. xvi. 4. 



And Their Solution 451 

end of creation we must carefully distinguish the extrinsic glory 
of God from the happiness of man. The former constitutes the 
principal end, the latter the secondary end of creation. God 
consequently orders all things for the attainment of His chief 
end, His glory, by the manifestation of His attributes and per- 
fections. The just, acting in conformity with this divine pur- 
pose and fulfilling God 's holy will, secure to themselves heavenly 
happiness, their secondary end, and proclaim God's mercy and 
goodness for all eternity. The wicked, on the contrary, by their 
resistance to the divine will, expressed in both the natural and 
the positive law, failing to fulfil the primary object of their crea- 
tion, the service of God, consequently forfeit their secondary end, 
human happiness, and proclaim against their will God's power 
and justice in the punishment that shall have no end. The two 
ends, the glory of God and the happiness of man, are so intimately 
connected that if man seeks the former, he will infallibly secure 
the attainment of the latter. On the contrary, his neglect of the 
former will necessarily entail the loss of the latter. . 

Let us suppose for argument's sake that God's punishments 
are medicinal, and intended for the correction and reform of the 
wicked. May we not suppose that some of them will obstinately 
refuse to repent and prefer to persevere in their rebellion, hating 
their Maker with an implacable hate? In this supposition, 
which the abuse of human liberty and the abyss of human malice 
render quite possible, what will Almighty God do? Will He 
be compelled to grant to an incorrigible, rebellious sinner the 
happiness of heaven? And if He did, would not this result be 
the triumph of iniquity over divine omnipotence? Therefore, 
the only conclusion we can legitimately draw is the admission of 
the justice of everlasting punishment : a provision which, whilst 
safeguarding the rights of God's offended majesty, shows the in- 
evitable consequences of all resistance and opposition to His holy 
will. 

601. We offer some additional reflections, which will contribute 
to the refutation of the theory that all punishment ought to be 
medicinal, that is, intended for the correction and reform of the 
guilty. Under the best human government the general welfare 
of the State and its members, the protection and vindication of 
the sacredness of its laws, which cannot be violated with im- 
punity, constitute the primary end contemplated in the infliction 
of penalties on the transgressors. We intuitively connect pun- 
ishment with crime, without the slightest reference to the reform 
of the criminal. If to-morrow our jails should discharge their 
inmates, would it be found that penal endurance had qualified 
them for honest callings and association with law-abiding citi- 
zens? How many desperate characters are harboring thoughts 
of revenge against the judge that condemned them, the witnesses 
that testified against them, and the civil authority that carried 
the sentence into execution? 



452 Chief Objections Against Hell's Eternity 

602. To suppose that hereafter the pardoned sinner will re- 
pent is to assume without warrant that the punishment always 
causes repentance. But even in this world obstinate criminals 
become worse when they do not accept their punishment as the 
just due of their misdeeds. A prisoner, writes Fr. Conway, who 
was nearing the end of a twenty years' sentence once told me, 
when I asked him if he was sorry for the crime he had commit- 
ted, "No, and I will be revenged on society, when I am free." 
On what principle then can any one claim that punishment 
hereafter will inevitably work the conversion of the obdurate 
sinner ? 25 

To pass from the present to the next world, it is said that, 
when some one expressed to Satan his surprise that he did not 
repent of his rebellion, he replied with great anger: "Do you 
think that if I had meant to repent, I should not have repented 
long ago?" The individual that expressed his surprise at the 
non-repentance of Satan evidently ignored the fact that the de- 
mons as well as the reprobates are immutably fixed in their 
malice, hence utterly incapable of salutary repentance. 26 The 
fact was related by the « individual, upon whom Satan had tried 
to impose. But 1 cannot recall the authority upon which this 
legend is founded. 27 

603. As the advocates of the medicinal and corrective purpose 
of God's future punishments are wont to justify their views by 
Scriptural texts, let us see whether the testimonies of Holy Writ 
announcing the condemnation of the wicked to hell's fire hint at 
any reformatory and disciplinary purpose of that punishment. 
Out of many sacred texts that might be adduced, the three fol- 
lowing will amply suffice: "Depart from Me, you cursed, into 
everlasting tire." 28 "If thy hand scandalize thee, cut it off, it 
is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two 
hands to go into hell, into unquenchable fire ; where their worm 
dieth not, and the fire is not extinguished. " 29 "In a flame of 
fire, giving vengeance to them, who know not God, and who obey 
not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ ; who shall suffer eternal 
punishment. ' ' 30 

Can any one detect in these texts even the remotest indication 
of corrective discipline on behalf of the condemned reprobates? 
Where, then, is the Scriptural warrant for the existence of any 
disciplinary trial and ulterior reform in the world to come ? And 
as there can be no contradiction in God 's written word, our oppo- 
nents will look in vain for any Scriptural testimonies favorable 
to their theory, and therefore opposed to those we have alleged. 

The idea of future punishment being corrective instead of 
vindicative and expiatory, changes the whole plan of salvation 

25 Rev. B. L. Conway, C.S.P., in his "Question Box." 

26 See St. Thomas, De Angelis, p. i, q. lxiv, art. 2, 3. 

27 See Pusev, What is of Faith as to Everlasting Punishment, p. 280. 

28 Matt. xxv. 41. 29 Mark ix. 42. so 2 Thess. i. 8, 9. 



And Their Solution 453 

obtainable from the grace and merits of Christ within the limits 
of earthly probation, and revolutionizes all our notions of divine 
revelation. What becomes, then, of Our Saviour's testimony 
when He thus spoke to the obstinate Jews : "You shall seek Me, 
and you shall die in your sin. " ? 31 

Could our Blessed Redeemer, consistently with His goodness 
and veracity, utter such a dreadful threat if, in the future world, 
sinners could yet resort to Him for pardon and mercy ? Yet as 
God's word testifies, only from Him salvation comes. "I am 
the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh to the Father 
but by Me." 32 

Likewise addressing the Jews, St. Peter thus spoke of the power 
of the name of Jesus, in whom alone salvation can be found: 
"Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other 
name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved. ' ' 33 



CHAPTER IV 

DIFFICULTIES VIII AND IX 

THE ANNIHILATION THEORY EXPOSED AND 
REFUTED 

DIFFICULTY VIII 

604. Parishioner. — One day the guests engaged in the usual 
disputation were somewhat surprised at the novel view presented 
by one of the speakers. ' ' A solution, ' ' he said, ' ' has been found 
at last of the difficulty how to reconcile God's attributes of good- 
ness, clemency, and mercy with the everlasting punishment of 
the wicked. The solution, prompted by common sense, is this: 
The Lord God will grant everlasting happiness to the just. As 
to the wicked persevering in sin even to their death, they will 
be annihilated by divine omnipotence and thus eternally pun- 
ished, inasmuch as they will be eternally deprived of the gift of 
existence ; and thus an end will be put to sin. ' ' 

605. Curate. — Though this so-called solution may appear 
novel to some people, yet it must be said that it is nearly a cen- 
tury old. As its advocates have attempted to support it by Bibli- 
cal texts, it will be necessary to show that none of the Scriptural 
testimonies they adduce favors their view ; and that, on the con- 
trary, they plainly demonstrate the natural immortality of all 
souls, whether saved or lost ; a conclusion that entirely demolishes 
their fabric, and leaves intact the dogma of eternal punishment 
of the wicked which they had undertaken to disprove. Great 

3i John viii. 21. 32 J lm xiv. 6. 

33 Acts iv. 12. (See St. Thomas, la 2ae, q . lxxxvii, art. 3.) 



454 Chief Objections Against Hell's Eternity 

stress is laid by the defenders of annihilation on the word 
"destruction" and its equivalents, which occur in several pas- 
sages of Holy Scripture. Thus a Mr. Davis in his book entitled 
"Endless Sufferings Not the Doctrine of the Bible," writes on 
page 6 : " What is meant by the term ' destruction ' in St. Mat- 
thew 's Gospel ch. x. 28 — 'Fear Him that can destroy both soul 
and body in hell'? It means the making an end of the whole 
man, of both his body and his soul by annihilation." 

As we remarked above (n. 563), the true meaning of that ex- 
pression, "can destroy," is fully explained by a parallel passage 
in St. Luke 's Gospel, which reads thus : ' ' And I say to you, be 
not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that they have no 
more that they can do ; but I will show you whom you shall fear, 
fear ye Him, who after He hath killed, hath power to cast into 
hell. Yea, I say to you, fear Him. ' ' 1 

Here we have a clear case of an interpretation by an advocate 
of annihilation, which, if adopted, would involve an open con- 
tradiction between the words of St. Matthew and those of St. 
Luke, though both are registering in their Gospel the teaching of 
Christ. 

Now, as God's word can never contradict itself, the only 
alternative left to us is to abandon the interpretation given by 
the Annihilationists to the term "destroy" and adopt the com- 
mon interpretation of both Catholic and Protestant scholars, 
who, explaining St. Matthew's passage by the clearer words of 
St. Luke, exclude altogether the final extinction of the souls of 
the wicked and assert their everlasting damnation. Christ in 
that text compares the power of man with that of God. Men 
can kill the body, but they are utterly powerless when con- 
fronted with the indestructible life of the soul. God, on the 
other hand, being the Master of life and death, can doubtless kill 
the body, and, as shown previously, possesses also the absolute 
power of reducing to nothing the human soul ; a power, however, 
which, owing to His attributes of wisdom, goodness, and justice, 
and the truthfulness of His promises and threats, He will never 
exercise. God, moreover, as Supreme Judge, the Evangelists 
assure us, possesses and will exert the tremendous power of con- 
demning both the soul and the body of the wicked to the tor- 
ments of hell. 

But here we must not overlook the fact that the last two 
words of St. Matthew's text, "in hell," quoted by Mr. Davis, 
contain a complete refutation of his annihilation theory. For 
the Evangelist tells us by those words what the term "to de- 
stroy" means. It means the eternal punishment of both the 
soul and the body in hell ; of the former immediately after death 
in sin; of the latter after the final resurrection unto judgment, 
that is, unto damnation, reserved to the wicked. "They that 

i Luke xii. 4, 5. 



And Their Solution 455 

have done evil shall come forth unto the resurrection of judg- 
ment" — words of Christ registered in St. John's Gospel (v. 29.) 

Moreover, annihilation, instead of being an eternal punish- 
ment, as its patrons contend, must more appropriately be re- 
garded as an eternal exemption from punishment. In his at- 
tempt to meet this difficulty a Mr. Constable says: "Eternal 
death inflicted on sinners is eternally felt. ' ' 2 Eternal death, 
then, inflicted on impenitent sinners, is eternally felt — a non- 
existing sinner eternally feeling his non-existence. Can there 
be a more glaring absurdity? Surely the cause is desperate 
which compels its advocates to resort to such silly means of de- 
fense. "We may here rightly apply the Latin saying : ' ' Causa 
non oona patrocinio peior erit." — "A bad cause is made worse 
by defending it." 

The question is sometimes asked: Why does not Almighty 
God, when confronted with incorrigible, obstinate, impenitent 
sinners, exercise His omnipotent power and put an end to the 
existence of such reckless creatures ? 

We reply : We all know that God possesses such power ; but 
what our opponents are expected to do is to prove that He is 
bound to exercise it, a task which they are utterly unable to 
accomplish, because both reason and revelation are against it, as 
we will now show at greater length. 

Our task will be to prove that the theory of annihilation can- 
not be defended either on Scriptural or on rational grounds. 

606. Among the many erroneous conceptions of the nature and 
attributes of the human soul prevailing among men are to be 
reckoned those that are entertained by the advocates of annihi- 
lation, and they are the following: 

Confounding the immortality of the body, the extraordinary 
gift conferred by God on our first parents and forfeited by sin, 
with the immortality of the soul, which God made naturally im- 
mortal, they hold that man 's soul was not created immortal, and 
that its immortality was the gift of Christ. They moreover 
teach that the death threatened by the Lord against our parents 3 
would have been annihilation, had it not been for the Eedeemer, 
who was to intervene and secure a reprieve through His grace. 
They further maintain that Christ bestows immortality on be- 
lievers and withholds it from all who reject His Gospel. And 
this explains, they say, why they that do not believe perish 
utterly, either at death, or, after having suffered the punishment 
awarded to them, at the last judgment, when future punishment 
will cease, as no being will remain to endure it. 

All these assumptions are so obviously false and utterly op- 
posed to the elementary truths of divine revelation and Christian 
doctrine, that to state them is to refute them. 

However, as their upholders attempt to show that their theory 

2 Duration of Future Punishment, 3d edition, p. 11. 3 Gen. ii. 17. 



456 Chief Objections Against Hell's Eternity 

is founded on the words of Holy Writ, we shall prove that none 
of the Scriptural testimonies they adduce favor their view, but 
that, on the contrary, they plainly demonstrate the natural im- 
mortality of the soul. 

607. They do not insist on specifying the exact period of time 
when the soul's existence shall cease, because, as we shall show 
later on, the so-called Destructionists are very much at variance 
among themselves as to the precise time of the soul's destruc- 
tion. In fact, 

(a) Some hold that it takes place at death, 

(b) Others contend that it occurs at the last judgment, 

(c) Still others believe that total annihilation will happen only 
after prolonged sufferings, according to God's sentence. 

For the sake of clearness we divide this discussion into two dis- 
tinct parts. In the first place, we will analyze those texts of 
Scripture which, referring to "death," "life," destruction," 
' ' perishing, ' ' or similar terms, are brought forward by our oppo- 
nents as demonstrating the complete cessation of existence. Our 
task will be to show that the alleged texts lend no countenance 
whatever to their view and that they cannot consequently support 
it by the authority of God's word. Secondly, we shall refer the 
reader to Part III, where we adduce from both the Old and the 
New Testament numerous testimonies of Holy Writ proclaiming 
the great truth of the immortality of the human soul. We shall 
thus be able to present to our readers a complete refutation of 
the annihilation or destruction scheme ; a refutation derived 
from the same Divine Book, Holy Writ, which the upholders of 
annihilation are wont to invoke as the principal supporter of 
their opinion. 

We freely admit that the literal sense is the common, ordinary, 
obvious sense or significance in all languages; therefore, the 
terms "death," "life," "destruction," "perishing," etc., are 
to be taken in their literal, obvious meaning, unless the context 
and other passages referring to the same subject, and the general 
tenor of the Book in which they appear demand quite a differ- 
ent understanding. This principle is freely admitted by Mr. 
Edward White himself, the staunch advocate of the so-called 
Voluntary Annihilation theory. In fact, he thus writes in his 
work entitled, ' ' Life in Christ Only, ' ' page 9 : 

1 ' The literal sense of words is prima facie their true sense : it 
has the first claim to be received, unless overruled by the connec- 
tion, or by the general tenor of the book in which they appear. ' ' 

This is quite true, and it is for this very reason that the terms 
"death," "destruction," "perishing," cannot convey the mean- 
ing attributed to them by our opponents, because the connection 
and the general tenor of the book containing them exclude the 
literal meaning and demand a deeper and far more significant 



And Their Solution 457 

import. Words possess no inherent and immutable meaning, 03^ 
which their import should invariably be determined independ- 
ently of the context and the mind of the writer. Words are but 
signs of thoughts and ideas, and must be read in the light of 
their contexts. The reader's task does not consist in applying 
to words and sentences his own individual meaning, but in 
grasping the thoughts, ideas, and meaning of the writer. The 
following rules or precautions must then be borne in mind : 

608. 1. Since words may have more than one meaning, to get 
at the meaning of the writer it is necessary to know the various 
meanings of the words he uses; and next, it is necessary to de- 
termine from the context, and the scope of the book, which pre- 
cise meaning the writer attaches to the words in any given sen- 
tence. 

2. In Sacred Scripture there can be no real contradiction of 
one passage to another, for the simple reason that God, its 
Author, cannot contradict Himself. Hence any interpretation 
in which Sacred Scripture is made to contradict itself cannot be 
admitted as true. 

3. We must take note of the argument, or subject-matter of 
the book, and of the purpose the sacred writer has in view. 
Thus, though the term ''law" has several meanings, from the 
argument of St. Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians, we under- 
stand at once that he there speaks of the Mosaic Law. 

609. What, then, is the meaning of the term "death," when 
used in Scripture to designate the final doom of the wicked? 
Destructionists reply — "cessation of life," "extinction of be- 
ing." We, on the contrary, hold that it denotes something 
totally different. In the Apocalypse we read: "And hell and 
death were cast into the pool of fire. This is the second death. ' ' 4 

Here is the interpretation of the advocates of annihilation : 
"The first death was the separation of the soul from the body, 
which all designate by the term ' death. ' The second death of the 
wicked pointed out by the above text is their total extinction." 

610. This interpretation cannot be accepted for the follow- 
ing reasons: As to the first death, we reject their explanation, 
for the expression ' ' this is the second death ' ' has reference to a 
first death, which was the cause of the second. Now, the mere 
fact of natural death, that is, the separation of the soul from 
the body, common to all men, to the just as well as to the wicked, 
can have no bearing on the second death, which, as we shall 
soon prove, means eternal damnation in hell's fire. 

What, then, is the final death, that which causes damnation; 
namely, the second death ? It is the loss of sanctifying grace, the 
spiritual life of the soul, as the following Scriptural testimonies 
clearly show : ' * Sin, when it is completed, begetteth death. ' ' 5 

* Apoc. xx. 14. 5 James i. 15. 



458 Chief Objections Against Hell's Eternity 

" There is a sin unto death." 6 "He that loveth not abideth in 
death." ' "If you live according to the flesh you shall die " 8 
"All that hate me, love death." 9 "There is a way which seem- 
eth just to a man; but the ends thereof lead to death." 10 As 
to the true import of the expression "second death" which De- 
structionists interpret as synonymous with "extinction," it is 
given in the very next verse of the same chapter. "And who- 
soever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into 
the pool of fire." 1X It is plain, then, that the second death, far 
from being the extinction or annihilation of the wicked, is noth- 
ing less than their final condemnation to the pool of fire, the 
dungeon of hell. This is the interpretation given by all Catho- 
lic theologians and Biblical scholars under the guidance of their 
leader, St. Thomas, who in his explanation of Apocalypse xx. 14 
speaks thus: "The first death is that of sin, and this is in 
the soul. The second death is that of hell's fire, and it is both 
in the soul and in the body. In the former immediately after 
death in impenitence : in the latter after the final resurrection. ' ' 

If the living advocates of the ultimate destruction, or total 
extinction, are very anxious for the truth of their theory, much 
more so are the unhappy multitudes of the lost, of whom we 
read in the Apocalypse, "In those days, men shall seek death 
and shall not find it ; and they shall desire to die, and death shall 
fly from them." 12 

An additional proof of the meaning which most interpreters 
attach to the term "second death" is furnished by the same in- 
spired Book in the testimonies referring to the lot of the just 
as contrasted with that of the wicked. "He that shall over- 
come, shall not be hurt by the second death," 13 that is, he that 
by conquering his passions shall avoid sin, the first death (i.e., 
that of the spiritual life of the soul) shall not suffer the second 
death ; namely, eternal damnation. ' ' Blessed and holy is he that 
hath part in the first resurrection. In these the second death 
hath no power. ' ' 14 By the ' ' first resurrection ' ' is here meant 
the transition of the soul of the just from earth to heaven, 
when separated from the body by death. It is intended to dis- 
tinguish the happiness of the soul enjoyed by the blessed im- 
mediately after death, if found fully purified, from that of their 
bodies at their glorious resurrection on the judgment day. 

611. The somewhat strange language of the inspired writer 
in Apocalypse, xx. 14, "and hell and death were cast into the 
pool of fire," is fully explained if taken in connection with the 
preceding verse, where it is stated that all will obey their sum- 
mons to the judgment. Then the dead whose souls had been 
condemned, will issue from hell to unite with their risen bodies, 

e 1 John v. 16. 7 Id. iii. 14. 8 R om . viii. 13. 9 Prov. viii. 36. 

io Id. xiv. 12. nApoc. xx. 15. 12 Apoc. ix. 6. is id. ii. 11. 

14 Id. xx. 6. 



And Their Solution 459 

to hear from the Supreme Judge their final sentence : ' ' Depart 
from Me, you cursed, into everlasting tire. . . . And these shall 
go into everlasting punishment. ' ' 15 

"And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and 
hell gave up their dead that were in them ; and they were judged, 
every one according to their works. ' ' 16 Here the past is 
prophetically used instead of the future. 

612. We deem it advisable to add to what we stated above the 
following considerations, which will once and forever, we hope, 
dispose of what the advocates of the annihilation scheme call 
their clinching argument; it is the text of Apocalypse xx. 14: 
"This is the second death." 

To the preceding testimonies from the Apocalypse and others 
derived from the same inspired Book we subjoin the explana- 
tion of the meaning of "the second death" given by several holy 
Fathers and other sacred writers : 

"Let him fear to die, who is to pass into the second death, an 
eternal flame. ' ' 17 

"We term that punishment the second death, which is per- 
petual: it is the condemnation of souls to eternal punishment 
for their deserts. ' ' 18 

"We should fear the second death, which is full of weeping 
and gnashing of teeth, of groan and anguish. ' ' 19 

"That which is called the second death is nothing else than 
a life of punishment : the lower hell where Gehenna will torture 
soul and body. ' ' 20 

"One death is the separation of the soul from God, which is 
caused by sin. Another death is named the lake of hell, in 
which sinful souls are kept. ' ' 21 

"There is for the soul everlasting death, when it is deprived 
of the true life for having lost God, and cannot be free from 
bodily sufferings by death. ' ' 22 

Different Scriptural meaning of the term "life." — The De- 
structionists, acting on their principle of literal interpretation, 
regardless of the exegetical rules to be kept in view, hold that 
Christ imparts to believers in His Gospel the extraordinary gift 
of immortality, an endless existence, but denies it to the wicked 
and unbelievers, who, consequently, at the termination of their 
earthly sojourn, cease to exist. To confirm their doctrine they 
allege the following words of Christ: "I am come that they 
might have life. ' ' 23 First of all, it is highly interesting for us 
to know when that remarkable gift was bestowed on the happy 

is Matt. xxv. 41, 46. is Apoc. xx. 13. 

i7 St. Cyprian, De Mortal., n. 10. is Lactantius, Inst. Div. 1. ii, c. xii 

is St. James of Nisibis, Serm. viii, De Resur, Mort. 

20 St. Paulinus, Epist. xl. ad Sanct. 

21 Apoc. xx. 14. 15. Sedulius, In ep. ad Rom, c. vi. 

22 St. Augustine, De Civit. Dei. 1. xxi. 3 ; Enchiridion Patr. p. 653. 

23 John x. 10. 



460 Chief Objections Against Hell's Eternity 

believers. Mr. Minton, himself an ardent upholder of destruc- 
tionism, proposes and answers our question: 

"When does the stupendous change from perishable to im- 
perishable, from mortal to immortal, destructible to indestruc- 
tible, take place ? The Scripture replies : It begins in regenera- 
tion and is completed in resurrection. When the human soul, 
being quickened by the Divine Spirit, is brought to know God, 
and Jesus Christ, whom He hath sent, it passes from death to 
life." 24 

It is easy to show that such a theory bristles with absurdities. 
According to it Christ, instead of being the Redeemer, bestow- 
ing salvation, is acting as the Creator, communicating endless 
existence. The text alleged for proof, according to all interpre- 
ters, whether Catholic or non-Catholic — the Destructionists, of 
course, excluded — has no reference whatever to the bestowal of 
rational endless life, but simply states the fact that Christ came 
upon earth to deliver men from sin by conferring upon them, 
chiefly through Baptism, divine grace, which is as truly the 
spiritual life of the soul as the soul itself is the life of the body. 
But even supposing a literal meaning of the word "life" in the 
text in question, what right have our opponents to assume that 
such a term means endless, immortal life? Mr. Minton says 
that the Scripture replies, but fails to give us the chapter and 
verse of the Bible in which the reply is contained. But other 
even more glaring absurdities follow from the assumption that 
Christ grants immortality to believers, and withholds it from 
those who reject the Gospel. 

Here we ask: What becomes of that gift when the believers 
prevaricate, commit grievous offenses, and even renounce the 
Gospel altogether? Will they forfeit the gift of immortality 
whenever they sin? And will they recover it again when they 
repent, and are converted to Christ? 

If they answer affirmatively, what Biblical testimonies, we 
ask, can they allege to justify their view? The soul, its origin 
by God's creative act, its faculties and its immortality are in- 
deed gifts of the Sovereign Creator, but they are natural gifts, 
common to all human beings, to the heathens as well as to the 
Christians, to the wicked as well as to the just. This is so true 
that the truth of the human soul's immortality, though dis- 
tinctly taught in Holy Scripture, is established independently 
of it by reason alone, and was demonstrated by Gentile philos- 
ophers that lived centuries before the coming of Christ. 

613. There are many Scriptural texts both in the Old and in 
the New Testament in which the word "life" has a meaning 
perfectly identical with that attributed by all Biblical scholars 
to the sentence registered in St. John's Gospel: "I am come 
that they may have life." 25 "Except you eat the flesh of 

24 The Glory of Christ, p. 134. 25 John x. 10. 



And Their Solution 461 

the Son of man, and drink His blood, you shall not have life 
in you. ' ' 26 This passage evidently refers to the life of grace, 
the union with God through charity, a gift imparted to the 
soul through the merits of Christ, particularly through the sac- 
raments, which, when lost by mortal sin, can, in the present life, 
be recovered through the same merits of Christ, by timely re- 
pentance and compliance with Christ's ordinance regarding the 
application of His merits for the pardon of sin. 

614. Our opponents remark that the term "destroy" applied 
by the Evangelists to the power of God, is a much stronger word 
than ' ' kill, ' ' attributed to the power of man ; hence it must mean 
something more than what men are able to do ; for they can kill, 
but cannot annihilate, whilst God can do both. 

615. We reply that the term "destroy" is intended to desig- 
nate the awful catastrophe implied in damnation, which in- 
volves the blasting of man's original destiny, the loss of infinite, 
eternal happiness, and the incurring of everlasting woe ; that is, 
the torments of the soul of the wicked immediately after death, 
and of both their souls and bodies after the final resurrec- 
tion. 

616. The advocates of annihilation, who lay so much stress 
on the words of St. Matthew, "that can destroy both soul and 
body," prudently overlook the final words, "in hell," for they 
point out the endless sufferings of both soul and body in the 
dungeon of hell. 27 The intelligent reader, by applying the fore- 
going interpretation of the two parallel texts of St. Matthew 
(x. 28) and of St. Luke (xii. 5), will easily refute the writer in 
the English Contemporary Review, 28 who thinks he has cor- 
nered the orthodox believers in eternal punishment by the fol- 
lowing interpretation of St. Matthew 's text : ' ' Surely, to say 
that to destroy or to kill both soul and body means to keep them 
both alive in a state of everlasting torture is to falsify the mean- 
ing of words, or, to speak mildly, to apply them in a non-natural 
sense. ' ' 

The sophism of the Contemporary Review is easily exposed 
by remarking that the writer takes for granted what he fails to 
prove: namely, that the words "kill" and "destroy" in St. Mat- 
thew's text must be understood as signifying annihilation. 
"When he shall have done this, we shall exercise our right of 
examining the argument upon which he bases his deduction. 

617. There are many passages of Holy Scripture, in which the 
word "destroy" occurs, but none of them can be taken as imply- 
ing the blotting out of existence. The following text of St. Paul 
is most suitable to our purpose, but our adversaries steer clear 
of it, as it associates destruction not with annihilation but with 
unending punishment. "In a flame of fire, giving vengeance to 
them who know not God and who obey not the Gospel of our 

26 Id. vi, 54. 2- Matt. x. 28. 2s April, 1872, p. 580. 



462 Chief Objections Against HelVs Eternity 

Lord Jesus Christ, who shall suffer eternal punishment in de- 
struction, from the face of the Lord. ' ' 29 What, then, does the 
destruction of the wicked mean ? Precisely what we have stated 
above, and St. Paul clearly points out, the endurance of eternal 
punishment. 

618. It is scarcely necessary to refer here to the miserable 
subterfuge of our adversaries who strive in vain to evade the 
conclusion following from the numerous sacred texts which in- 
timate eternal damnation to the wicked by saying that their 
eternal punishment consists in their being forever deprived of 
the gift of existence. Who ever heard that non-existing beings 
are subject to sufferings and to the torments of hell 's fire ? 

This point may be further illustrated by other texts in which 
the word "destroy" occurs that cannot be translated by any 
term signifying annihilation. When the angel of the Lord ap- 
peared to St. Joseph and bade him fly into Egypt with the child 
Jesus and His mother, he gave the reason of his message, say- 
ing "For it will come to pass that Herod will seek the child to 
destroy Him. ' ' 30 Was Herod endowed with the power of anni- 
hilation? "And the Pharisees going out made a consultation 
against Him [Christ] how they might destroy Him." 31 We 
know that they killed Him ; but our opponents, to be consistent, 
should say that they annihilated Him. 

Satan himself is called Apollyon, the Greek word for destroyer ; 
but though he may do a good deal of mischief, he has not been 
invested with the divine power of annihilation. 

Our opponents fare no better when they quote Scriptural 
passages in which the verb "perish," used in connection with 
the wicked, is by them interpreted as equivalent to annihila- 
tion. 

"But these men, as irrational beasts . . . shall perish in their 
corruption. ' ' 32 

"Behold here," they tell us, "the ultimate lot of the wicked. 
They perish, that is, cease to exist, like irrational animals." 

Such is not the meaning intended by St. Peter, as is clearly 
seen from the contents of the whole chapter, in which he speaks of 
the awful punishment awaiting the ungodly, who, like the rebel 
angels, shall be ' ' drawn by infernal ropes to the lower hell. ' ' 33 

He foretells the final ruinous fate of those who, like brute 
animals, exercise no control over their sensual appetites and 
carnal passions; how, besides damning their guilty souls, they 
wreck their own bodies also here and hereafter. 

619. Man is endowed with two essential attributes — he is free, 
and he is immortal. By the right use of his liberty and of his 
mental faculties he can know God, his Maker, obey and love Him 
and thus make himself happy by attending to the end of his 

29 2 Thess. i. 8, 9. soMatt. ii. 13. si Matt. xii. 14. 

32 2 Peter ii. 12. 33 Id. ii. 4. 



And Their Solution 463 

creation. Through the gift of immortality he is rendered 
capable of enjoying happiness for all eternity. To accomplish 
God's will upon earth and by so doing to secure eternal happi- 
ness—this is man's lofty end. But as it is a question here of 
a free and therefore responsible being, we must carefully dis- 
tinguish two things; namely, the actual attainment of that 
end, perfect, everlasting happiness, and the natural tendency to 
it implanted in man by God. The first is essentially conditional, 
for it depends on the free co-operation, whenever possible, of the 
will with the grace of God. The second, that is, the natural 
aspiration to perfect happiness, of which God Himself is the 
object, fully capable of satisfying it, is entirely independent of 
man's will, for it is nothing else but the essential aptitude or fit- 
ness of human nature for the attainment and enjoyment of per- 
fect happiness, the exclusive gift of divine goodness. Now, this 
happiness, to be perfect, requires immortality as a necessary ele- 
ment. From this it follows that immortality constitutes an es- 
sential attribute of man's soul, of which he shall never be de- 
prived, whether he finally reaches that perfect happiness for 
which he was created, or ultimately forfeits it through his own 
fault by the abuse of his liberty. Annihilation, considered as a 
punishment, would not only be insufficient to deter man from 
sin, but would moreover offer an encouragement to the sinner's 
reckless career, when we consider the strength of ungoverned 
passions, the intoxicating allurements of carnal pleasures, and 
the impiety of certain desperate criminals, who bid defiance to 
both divine and human laws. 

620. Moreover, in the theory of annihilationists would not God 
put it within the power of man to compel the Creator to destroy 
the creature which He has made for His glory? "The Lord 
hath made all things for Himself: the wicked also for the evil 
day. ' ' 34 We can understand that man may, by a sinful life, 
place himself outside the reach of God's love and mercy, but we 
surely cannot believe that he can place himself beyond the con- 
trol of God's ruling power and thus evade his eternal destiny. 
The very thought of such an act involves an absurdity, as it 
would limit God's omnipotence over His rebellious creature. 

Man may, by the abuse of his liberty, by sin, contravene the 
order of the divine will, which intends his eternal salvation, and 
thus exclude himself from participation in divine goodness. But, 
by so doing, unable to escape God 's dominion over His creatures, 
he falls into the order of divine justice by incurring its punish- 
ments. This is substantially the reasoning of the Angelic Doc- 
tor. 35 (See n. 71.) 

621. To do away with the necessity of future punishment, the 
following argument has been put forth by the defenders of anni- 
hilation : God, they tell us, has full power to chastise the wicked 

34 Prov. xvi. 4. 35 See Summa, p. i, q. xix, art. 6. 



464 Chief Objections Against Hell's Eternity 

in the present life by pains proportionate to their crimes. 

There is more than one answer to this subterfuge. In the 
first place, is this the plan adopted by divine justice in the moral 
government of our present world? The history of mankind 
during the last sixty centuries of their existence proves exactly 
the contrary. In fact, how many impious men were allowed to 
enjoy a lifetime of prosperity, and go to their grave without 
having atoned for any of their numberless crimes! 

Moreover, let us suppose that some inveterate criminal is actu- 
ally enduring intense sufferings here below as a penalty of his 
misdeeds ; he has at hand an infallible means for putting an end 
to such punishment, and that is suicide. In this case, this 
criminal would escape both the punishments of this life and those 
of the next. The former, by ending his own mortal existence; 
the latter, by annihilation at the hands of God, the very Being 
whom he had so grievously offended. 

How would the matter look from the standpoint of such a 
sinner? Would it not mean his victory over the Almighty, the 
defeat of divine justice, and the ultimate triumph of sin? 

Behold here another of the many absurdities to which the 
annihilation theory inevitably leads. 

DIFFICULTY IX 

622. Parishioner. — In looking over my note-book I find that 
this difficulty was brought up by one of the guests, a Protestant 
divine of the ultra-broad liberal school. "A temporary punish- 
ment may be considered by God's infinite mercy and goodness 
sufficient to expiate every kind of sins, however grievous and nu- 
merous they may be, and to maintain the moral order. Hence 
we cannot suppose that there is such a thing as an endless hell 
in the world to come, for such a penalty would be quite unneces- 
sary. As the old dialectician William of Ockham well said: 
'Non sunt multiplicanda entia sine necessitate.' — 'We must not 
suppose the existences of needless things.' And it is according 
to this principle that Scriptural texts bearing on this subject 
ought to be interpreted and understood. 

623. Curate.— We meet with this difficulty in the works of 
modern Origenists, who are also known as Restitutionists, a 
name invented by themselves. Who can believe, they say, that 
the pains of hell, endured for hundreds, or even thousands ot 
years, will not suffice to expiate even the most enormous crimes? 
Why,' then, should they be eternal ? 

In the first place, the objectors assume as true what Holy 
Scripture shows to be false; namely, that, in the future world, 
in hell, there is such a thing as available expiation, that is, an 
atonement intended to cleanse the sinners from their guilt and 
fit them for the abode of the blessed, which would be transform- 



And Their Solution 465 

ing hell, the prison-house of the wicked, into purgatory, the 
abode of the holy souls who departed from this life adorned 
with sanctifying grace. 

624. We must here bear in mind the most wise and absolutely 
necessary purpose of the divine legislation and its sanction, in- 
tended to furnish to men motives which, without tampering with 
the liberty of their will, are powerful enough to deter and re- 
frain them from the commission of sin. Hence, as St. John 
Chrysostom pertinently remarks, if not even the conviction of 
the existence of interminable punishment is, in many cases, suffi- 
cient to restrain reckless sinners from evil deeds, what would 
be the conduct of such desperate characters if they were sure 
that the infernal pains would finally come to an end? Take 
away the belief in the eternity of hell and substitute for it the 
ultimate restoration, or restitution of all sinners, their deliver- 
ance from the infernal prison, and reflect on the result. It will 
then be in the power of any wretched, impious man to confront 
the Lord of Majesty with such a blasphemous challenge as this : 
"I know that You can and will punish me for my crimes and 
I am ready to take whatever penalty You will decree against 
me. But I know also that there will be a limit to the duration 
of my punishment, after which You shall have to admit me, 
however reluctantly, to the happiness of the elect. Now as I 
have resolved to give full sway to my criminal passions during 
my lifetime, I willingly accept whatever punishment you will in- 
flict upon me here and hereafter, consoled by the thought that 
in the end You will have to receive me among your chosen serv- 
ants, to share with them Your own heavenly beatitude." 

Would not this procedure, entirely possible, according to 
the theory of modern Origenists, be like trampling justice under 
foot, and making it possible for any contemptible sinner to fling 
the greatest insult in the face of the Almighty Creator? If we 
once deny to the Supreme Judge the right of punishing obsti- 
nate, impenitent sinners eternally, we reduce Him to a condi- 
tion utterly unworthy of His sovereign majesty. 

The truth of hell's eternity excludes all possibility for any 
creature to defy and insult its Creator with impunity. 

The objector advocates a new rule for interpreting the Scrip- 
ture, and it consists in this, that we should attribute to its texts 
not the meaning which they naturally and obviously convey but 
that which agrees with one's preconceived notions or ideas. It 
is needless to remark that such novel exegesis is utterly subversive 
of all divinely revealed truth, for there is no erroneous doctrine 
that could not be justified on that principle. 

In connection with the opinion of the Protestant divine quoted 
by my parishioner, who contends that a temporal sanction is 
quite sufficient to maintain the moral order in the world. I will 
briefly recall an old historical incident. ' ; If I were Alexan- 



466 Chief Objections Against HelVs Eternity 

der," said his friend Parmenion, to the famous conqueror, "I 
would accept the conditions of peace proposed by Darius." To 
which Alexander wittily replied: "And I also would do so, if 
I were Parmenion.'' 

The application is easy enough, and it comes to this: If Al- 
mighty God, instead of being what He is, were only a poor mortal 
like the reverend parson mentioned above, he would, like him, 
consider a temporary sanction sufficient to enforce and preserve 
the moral order. Thank God, we are not governed by fallible, 
weak mortals, but by the infinite wisdom and power of God. 



CHAPTER V 
DIFFICULTIES X TO XIII 

DIFFICULTY X 

625. Parishioner. — One evening an elderly lady, who seemed 
to take interest in the discussion on future retribution, was re- 
quested and urged to say something on that subject. After some 
hesitation she arose and spoke as follows: "It strikes me that 
the thought of hell's everlasting pains is such as to destroy the 
present joys of life even with God-fearing people, and cannot 
but mar and poison the pleasures of heaven itself. How can we 
reconcile so inevitable a result with the Christian spirit which 
breathes only spiritual gladness and cheerfulness in the Lord? 
'Rejoice in the Lord, always: again I say, rejoice,' writes St. 
Paul to the Philippians." 1 

626. Curate. — 1. This is supposed to be one of the absurd con- 
sequences that follow from the Christian dogma of the eternity 
of hell. We are told that there cannot be any such thing as hell 
in God's government of the world, for the thought alone of the 
possibility of incurring that frightful evil makes every Chris- 
tian shudder with horror. How is it possible for any man, nay, 
for even the most fervent servants of God, to enjoy a moment 
of peace, when they think of the danger of incurring so dreadful 
a calamity ! This objection has not even the merit of originality, 
for it is practically borrowed from an old source. The Roman 
poet Lucretius wrote, nearly two thousand years ago: "That 
dreadful fear of hell is to be driven out, which disturbs com- 
pletely the life of man, overcasting all things with the black- 
ness of death and leaving no unalloyed pleasures. ' ' 2 

Experience shows, it must be admitted, that the horror inspired 
by the fear of hell exerts but little influence upon many people, 
and least of all upon reckless sinners. Would to God that, in 
the alluring temptations to sin, and in the intoxicating attrac- 

i Philipp. iv. 4. 2 De Rerum Natura, 1. iii, 37. 



And Their Solution 467 

tions of lust, such a thought should exercise its salutary effect 
on man's will! But alas! such is the recklessness of human 
malice that in many cases the fear of hell does not restrain it 
from even the blackest crimes. How many inveterate criminals 
though fully convinced of the danger of incurring that dreadful 
penalty by death in sin, still maintain an attitude of haughty, 
stoic indifference. Men are to be found who, though believing 
in the existence of hell, and realizing the danger of falling into 
it whilst living in sin, yet lead— apparently at least— a tranquil 
life, and abandon themselves joyfully to all the worldly pleasures 
within their reach. Experience, therefore, disproves the asser- 
tion that the thought of hell interferes with the pleasures of 
life. 

2. Rising from earth to heaven, such objectors add that the 
thought of the existence of hell, and particularly of its endless 
duration, would be sufficient to mar, nay, utterly destroy the 
happiness of the blessed in heaven, particularly when we recall 
the doctrine of theologians who, under the leadership of St. 
Thomas, prove from Holy Scripture that the blessed in heaven 
know who among their relations and friends may be suffering 
in hell. 3 

Who can imagine, they tell us, the piercing affliction and sor- 
row of a father and a mother safe in heaven, while knowing that 
some of their dear children are tortured in the flames of hell? 
How could a spouse relish the joys of heaven when knowing that 
her dear consort is suffering the pains of the reprobates ? Such 
heart-rending sorrow and pity would be absolutely incompatible 
with the bliss of paradise, so graphically described by St. John 
in the Apocalypse : ' ' And God shall wipe all tears from their 
eyes ; and death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor 
sorrow shall be any more, for the former things are passed 
away. ' ' 4 

There exists more than one solution of this difficulty, which 
is prompted, not by cool reflecting reason, but by misapplied 
sympathy and sheer sentimentality. 

627. As to these sympathetic feelings, the first thing to be 
noted is this : We know from divine revelation that the blessed 
in heaven will be perfectly happy, and that nothing whatever will 
interfere with their unalloyed bliss. Therefore, it is impossible 
that any event of the present or of the future world should mar 
or diminish in the least their complete happiness. 

The reasoning of our adversaries is based on an assumption 
of facts that have no existence in the heavenly abode. 

There is a great difference between heavenly and earthly love. 
The love of God is naturally the rule, model, and pattern of every 
love toward creatures, such as deserve our affection. As a mat- 
ter of fact, we love creatures because their traits, qualities, and 

s Suppl. p. iii, q. xciv, art. 1, 2, 3. 4 Apoc. xxi. 4. 



468 Chief Objections Against Hell's Eternity 

endowments please us. We often deceive ourselves either by con- 
sidering as a perfection that which is not, or by supposing in our 
neighbors the presence of qualities and perfections which are not 
found in them at all. Even vice often becomes an object of 
love and takes possession of our affections. Now, all these de- 
fects and erroneous ideas entirely disappear before the bright- 
ness of the beatific vision. The blessed see, admire, and love only 
the real, true perfections of creatures, that is, those that are de- 
serving of love as being reflections, imitations, and traces of the 
divine perfections. Hence it follows that the blessed in heaven, 
whose will is perfectly conformable to the divine will, cannot 
cherish the least love for those who have eternally separated 
themselves from God. They are consequently incapable of lov- 
ing those whom God cannot love, because they chose to remain 
in enmity with Him for all eternity. The following are some 
few of the testimonies that should be borne in mind: "Thou, 
Lord, hatest all the workers of iniquity. " 5 "To God the 
wicked and his wickedness are hateful alike." 6 "Depart from 
Me, you that work iniquity." 7 These testimonies evidently 
prove that the Lord cannot, consistently with His wisdom, good- 
ness, and justice, love impenitent sinners, much less the repro- 
bate human creatures who have wilfully chosen to be God's en- 
emies for all eternity. Now, can we suppose that the blessed, 
whose will is perfectly united with that of their Creator and 
Lord, may feel any sympathy with and love those whom He hates 
and punishes? Here below we never meet with any human be- 
ing that is entirely stripped of all amiable qualities. So long 
as he lives the most wretched sinner possesses, through divine 
mercy, the means of repentance, reform, and conversion. In the 
present life we are bidden to love sinners, even when, by their 
evil conduct, they have forfeited all right to our esteem. But 
things are different with the blessed in the next world. There 
earthly love is entirely purified and stripped of all imperfections 
and defects. Hence, all love cherished for the beloved ones upon 
earth ceases from the moment it is known that they are separated 
from God and condemned to join the ranks of the reprobates. 
In heaven all affection prompted only by flesh and blood totally 
disappears; hence, as the will of the blessed is perfectly con- 
formed to that of God, they enjoy with Him an imperturbable 
happiness, which nothing can ever diminish or take away. See 
Part IV, c. V. 

628. As to the assertion that the sadness and gloom caused by 
the thought of future punishment are not in harmony with the 
Christian spirit, which breathes only cheerfulness and joy, this 
is our answer: As we learn from both the Old and the New 
Testament, it is only the just, the God-loving and God-fearing 
that have reason to rejoice and cherish true substantial gladness, 

sPe. v. 7. e Wis. xiv. 9. 7 Matt. vii. 23. 



And Their Solution 469 

for they know full well that future punishment is to be the ex- 
clusive lot of the wicked, and that God's faithful servants have 
been promised an infinite happiness, the cause of everlasting joy, 
of which they have already a foretaste, in the present life by 
anticipation. 

The Psalmist, contrasting the state of the wicked with that of 
the just even in this world, while he says of the former, "let 
God arise, and let His enemies be scattered," he thus writes of 
the latter, "and let the just feast and rejoice before God, and be 
delighted with gladness. ' ' 8 And our Blessed Saviour, after an- 
nouncing the eight beatitudes, a summary of the trials and vir- 
tues of the just upon earth, thus addresses them : "Be glad and 
rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven." 9 

A few quotations from the charming book of Bishop Keppler 
entitled, "More Joy," will furnish a fitting conclusion to our 
present subject: "Everywhere and always it has been observed 
that true exactitude and earnestness in the service of God are 
rewarded with serenity of soul and happiness. " " Keep a good 
conscience and thou shalt always have joy. If there be joy in 
the world, certainly the man whose heart is pure, enjoys it. 
Such are the sound sentiments of the Following of Christ. 
(Book Second, Chapter VII.)" 

Worldly men possess and secure many joys; still they are with- 
out joy. The fact is their joys have no real value ; they surfeit, 
but never satisfy a man. ' ' Possessed, they are a burden ; loved, 
they are a defilement ; lost, they are a torment. ' ' 10 

A German philosopher makes the following avowal : "I main- 
tain that in the whole course of my life, now fairly advanced in 
years, I have never found solid, vigorous, or enduring morality 
anywhere save among those who fear God ; not as men commonly 
fear Him to-day, but as in the old childlike way. Among these, 
indeed, I found joy in living, a deep-rooted and imperturbable 
cheerfulness, and the courage to face death without a qualm." 

' ' Blessed is the people that knoweth jubilation. ' ' " 

DIFFICULTY XI 

629. Parishioner. — Among the hotel guests there happened 
to be a Protestant minister distinguished for his eloquence and 
liberal views. In a brief speech he said : "I preach to my con- 
gregation what seems to me a correct, common-sense doctrine, 
that those who fail to live up to the standard required for salva- 
tion need not despair. And why ? Because they shall have an- 
other chance, an additional trial in the next world. I have 
studied this question thoroughly and have come to the conclu- 
sion that there is no valid reason, either rational or Scriptural, 

sPs. lxvii. 2, 4. 9 Matt. v. 12. 

io St. Bernard, Ep. ciii; More Joy, pp. 88, 89, 90, 97, 98. See St. Thomas, 
Summa, p. iii. q. 94. u Ps. lxxxviii. 16. 



470 Chief Objections Against Hell's Eternity 

for asserting that repentance, reform and conversion are impos- 
sible after death. 1 ' 

630. Curate. — After a grievous, mortal sin has been com- 
mitted, the sinner then and there becomes amenable to the penalty 
corresponding to it, eternal damnation, as we have already shown. 
This is a dogma of Catholic faith admitted also, both by schis- 
matic and the Protestant Churches. Sin cannot be blotted out 
without the action of divine grace and mercy, which Almighty 
God, faithful to His promises, freely grants on condition of 
the sinner's repentance. If this condition is not fulfilled, and 
consequently, the deadly sin, deserving everlasting damnation, 
is not canceled, the sinner, dying impenitent, inevitably incurs 
the penalty he has freely chosen by his unretracted offense. 
Now, a most pertinent question is here asked. To whom does it 
belong to determine till what time, and on what conditions, par- 
don of sin may be obtained ? Does this belong to the offender, or 
to the offended party? Who possesses such a right, the guilty 
creature or the insulted majesty of the Creator? 

Common sense, that is, the voice of upright reason and con- 
science, answers, that the sinner has nothing to say on this point, 
and that here it is a question of a right belonging exclusively 
to God. Now, how do we know what has been His disposition, 
His decree in this regard? Evidently only from Himself, that 
is, from His own revealed word. And what does His divine 
word teach us? From it we learn that the time of merit, good 
works, and repentance is limited to the period of man's present 
existence. Hence there shall be no available repentance after 
death. Out of many testimonies the following will suffice: 
"When the wicked man is dead there shall be no hope any 
more." 12 "Then shall they call upon me and I [their God] 
will not hear." 13 "Behold now is the acceptable time; behold 
now is the day of salvation. " 14 " Therefore, whilst we have 
time, let us work good." 15 

"For it is easy before God, in the day of death, to reward 
every one according to his ways. " 16 " Before thy death work 
justice." 17 "If the tree falls to the south or to the north, in 
what place soever it shall fall, there shall it be." 18 The obvi- 
ous meaning is that the state of the soul, whether of salvation 
or of damnation, is finally and irrevocably determined at the 
particular judgment immediately after death. 

"Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer it not from 
day to day; for His wrath shall come on a sudden and in the 
time of vengeance He will destroy thee." 19 

St. John Chrysostom thus comments on this text: "There 
is danger in putting off one's conversion: then only there is 
safety and security, when there is no delay in repentance. Do 

izProv. xi. 7. isProv. i. 28. i* 2 Cor. vi. 2. is Gal. vi. 10. 

leEcclus. xi. 28. "Ibid, xiv. 17. 18 Eccles. xi. 3. 1 9 Ecelus. v. 8, 9. 



And Their Solution 471 

not say : There will be time for conversion from evil-doing, for 
such language greatly exasperates the Lord." 20 

631. The foregoing and other exceptionally clear and uncom- 
promising declarations of Holy Scripture on the imperative ne- 
cessity of a timely repentance, lose all their meaning, purpose, 
and efficacy on the hypothesis of a probation after death. In 
fact, what mean those repeated warnings about the thief in the 
night, the sudden return of the master of the house, the unex- 
pected arrival of the bridegroom, the two women at the mill, the 
two men in the field, of whom one was taken, and the other 
left ; what mean those reiterated exhortations of Christ and His 
Apostle to continual watchfulness but that life is short, the day 
and hour of death uncertain, and that there shall be no available 
repentance or reform beyond the grave? 

632. That our opponents will not be able to allege one single 
text warranting a second trial after death we are positively cer- 
tain, for God's word cannot contradict itself. Moreover, this 
much is granted by themselves. (See mi. 182, 489.) 

633. To those who tell us that they see no reason why our 
probation should end with death, we beg leave to suggest the 
following, which appears to be more than sufficient to satisfy 
every fair-minded man. It is this : 

The determination of the duration and place of our trial, all 
must admit, depended exclusively on the free will of God; of 
Him, who has created mankind and assigned to them a destiny. 
It belonged to Him to prescribe the condition of recompense and 
prefix the circumstances that would entail punishment on trans- 
gressors. Now, it so happens that God's revelation covers the 
whole ground, for we know with certainty from this infallible 
word that man's period of merit or demerit is limited to his life- 
time; that obedience to His commands is crowned with eternal 
recompense ; and that disobedience is punished with everlasting 
woe. Hence, in view of these divine provisions, all human de- 
vices, speculations, and conjectures on future probation are be- 
side the mark, and utterly useless. The only reasonable inquiry, 
then, for us to make is not what God might have done, but what 
He actually did. 

An American writer quoted by Mr. Oxenham says: "I 
have long searched with anxious solicitude for a text in the 
Bible which would even seem to favor the idea of a future proba- 
tion. I cannot find it." 21 

634. This matter may be further explained by the following 
illustration employed by St. Thomas : Should a man in a fit of 
hatred against himself gouge out both his eyes, it is plain that 
only a divine miracle could restore his sight; a miracle which 
might be performed, but which he has no right to expect. Hence 
he will remain practically perpetually blind. And when a 

20 Homily xxii. 21 Catholic Eschatology, p. 145, note. 



472 Chief Objections Against Hell's Eternity 

Christian man, with full deliberation, destroys in his soul sancti- 
fying grace, only a miracle of divine mercy can restore to him 
the forfeited friendship of God, a miracle which God's infinite 
goodness is always ready to perform on condition of the sinner 's 
sincere and timely sorrow and purpose of amendment. If timely 
repentance is refused and the sinner departs from this life in a 
state of enmity with his Creator, he will have to take the con- 
sequences of his rebellious act. But here we must not overlook 
an important difference or distinction, which is this : In the case 
of the reckless man that blinded himself, it is only from the dic- 
tate of reason that we know that he cannot without rashness ex- 
pect the miraculous restoration of his sight. But as to the sinner, 
we are assured by God's own revealed word that, on the other 
side of the grave, there shall be no chance of penance and recon- 
ciliation. Such a fate was threatened to the obstinate Jews by 
Christ when He said: "You shall seek Me, and you shall die in 
your sin. ' ' 22 

635. Neither can there be any injustice in this provision of the 
Divine Legislator, for is Almighty God bound to open a new door 
for pardon because obstinate men in this life did not wish to 
close the door of sin and carried it with their soul to the judg- 
ment seat? 

And here it is important to observe with a thoughtful modern 
writer, Mr. Cazenove, that to fix a point at which probation ends 
is a right claimed and exercised by every civil government upon 
earth. All civil authority draws some line, the transgression of 
which by the rebel or the murderer entails complete and final 
severance from the gift of earthly life and its enjoyments. Can 
we reasonably deny to the Sovereign Lord of mankind a right 
which the overwhelming majority of men concede to political 
rulers, His representatives on earth ? 

To the question whether reason alone can decide the matter at 
issue; namely, prove the non-existence of any further trial be- 
yond the tomb, we have already supplied the argument for a 
negative answer, and that is the fact that such a disposition 
essentially depended on the will of the Supreme Legislator, which 
can be learned only from His own revelation. 

Though this is perfectly true, yet our opponents must admit 
that, on the other hand, human reason can detect no injustice in 
God's decree, limiting man's trial and probation to the period of 
his responsible life upon earth. 

DIFFICULTY XII 

636. Parishioner. — A guest, who had been present at the 
usual discussion, buttonholed me and insisted on my procuring 
for him a straightforward answer to this query: "God, being 
omnipotent, has the power to impede the sins, which, He fore' 

22 John viii. 21. 



And Their Solution 473 

sees, free beings intend to commit. I ask: Why does He not 
do so, and thus render mankind thoroughly happy by preventing 
all the evils and calamities which sin entails both here and here- 
after?" 

637. Curate. — Here it is necessary, at the very outset, to dis- 
tinguish these two propositions: First, God may prevent moral 
evil, sin. Secondly, God ought to prevent it, and not allow hu- 
man liberty to act in opposition to man's true end and perfection. 
We willingly grant the first assertion, which does not in the least 
imperil our doctrine ; but we challenge our adversaries to prove 
the second assertion, which is far from being self-evident; and, 
what is more, as we are going to show, such a demonstration is 
utterly impossible. In fact, the permission of moral evil, sin, is 
not repugnant to any of God's attributes. Not to His sanctity, 
because God, in permitting sin, does not will it ; on the contrary, 
He hates it with an infinite hatred, and punishes it in the severest 
manner. Neither is it contrary to divine wisdom. First, be- 
cause divine wisdom requires that in the ordinary course of 
God's providence all created beings should be preserved in ex- 
istence along with their activities and the laws governing their 
different operations. Now, as we have seen in Part V, the very 
nature of human liberty implies the possibility of its abuse, and 
it is precisely in this abuse that sin, moral evil, consists. Sec- 
ondly, because the ill use of man's liberty may be utilized for 
a good end by the Supreme Wisdom that governs the world. 
1 ' God, ' ' says St. Augustine, ' ' permits evil because He is so pow- 
erful and so good as to be able to draw good from evil." Not 
that God wills what is evil in order to obtain what is good, but, 
supposing the fact of the evil done by the free determination of 
the human will, He can so order human events as to turn evil 
into some good. No better example could be alleged than the 
passion of Christ, whose sufferings, caused by the hatred of the 
Jews, effected the redemption of the whole human race. More- 
over, the permission of evil is not repugnant to divine goodness. 
First, because the attribute of goodness only requires that God 
should give to man the means necessary and conducive to his 
happiness. It is evident that man is never placed in the neces- 
sity of sinning ; he has, on the contrary, the full power of a law- 
ful, rightful use of his liberty, and of making it subservient to his 
happiness. If he abuses it and turns it into an instrument of 
perdition, the fault is all his own. Secondly, because God is 
governed, in all His actions, by divine wisdom, which requires 
that He should refrain from intervening to prevent the defec- 
tions of secondary free causes; as, on one hand, the permission 
of evil is necessary to maintain to liberty its meritorious char- 
acter, and, on the other hand, the untrammeled exercise of free 
will is needed to merit the possession of the supreme good, which 
alone can fully satisfy all the aspirations of man. Hence, Holy 



474 Chief Objections Against Hell's Eternity 

Scripture calls him blessed who "could have transgressed and 
hath not transgressed, and could do evil things, and hath not 
done them. ' ' 23 

638. This question has also been asked : Could not a merciful 
and all-powerful God so act upon man 's moral nature as to com- 
pel the reformation of the offender, and thus render submission 
and repentance inevitable ? 

This would be a compulsory reformation utterly inconsistent 
with man's moral freedom, and would consequently involve, on 
God's part, a contradiction in his dealings with a creature, 
which He made naturally free. True reformation and ac- 
ceptable repentance presuppose untrammeled freedom and ex- 
clude all constraint. A choice made under coercion could not 
possibly be a test of a virtue deserving recompense. In short, 
man's meritorious actions cannot be associated with compulsion 
in any form. 

We see, then, that the preceding objection, besides being alto- 
gether illogical and irrational, is moreover utterly unjust to God, 
the Sovereign Creator and Supreme Benefactor, against whose 
providence it is directed. For it comes to this: "God," says 
the objector, "has granted me liberty to do good and reach hap- 
piness ; I used it only to do evil. I am unhappy and miserable 
and this is only because I freely chose this condition. God, 
then, is an evil Master and Ruler because He bestowed on me a 
gift which I myself decided to turn to my ruin." 

By way of conclusion, let me allege here a wise thought of 
Jean Jacques Rousseau, which show that even unsound eccentric 
writers sometimes bear brilliant testimonies to the truth. They 
also have some lucid intervals. 

"To murmur against God, because He does not prevent man 
from doing evil is to complain because He has given him so ex- 
cellent a nature, because He endows his free actions with a 
morality that ennobles him in the extreme, and because He has 
given him the right to practise virtue. What more could Divine 
Omnipotence do in our behalf? Could God place a contradic- 
tion in our nature and bestow a reward for doing good on him 
who hath not the power to do evil? What! To prevent man 
from doing wrong was God to give him only instinct, and make 
him an irrational beast ? No, God of my soul, I will never re- 
proach Thee for having made me to Thy image and likeness in 
order that I should be free, good, and happy as Thyself. ' ' 24 

DIFFICULTY XIII 

639. Parishioner. — A guest begged leave to read an extract 
from an English agnostic, the late James Mill, apparently en- 
dorsed by his son, John Stuart Mill, and, as no one objected, he 
did so. It was as follows : 

23 Ecclus. xxxi. 10. 24 Emile, 1. iv, c. 61. 



And Their Solution 475 

" 'Think of a Being who would make hell, who would create 
the human race with the infallible foreknowledge — and there- 
fore with the intention — that the great majority of them should 
be consigned to horrible and everlasting torments.' This view 
of the matter," concluded the reader, "is my reason for rejecting 
all belief in the existence and eternity of the hell taught or rather 
invented by the Catholic Church." 

640. Curate. — It is sad to come across such blasphemous utter- 
ances in the works of men of undoubted mental ability. But 
there is an obvious explanation of this strange phenomenon. 
Their intellect has been befogged and warped by the heretical 
misrepresentations and perversions of Christian doctrines con- 
cerning man's supernatural destiny, and the dispositions of Di- 
vine Providence in that regard. Their views have been poisoned 
by Calvinistic predestination theories, which they took as the 
genuine, authentic teaching of Christianity. 

First of all, we emphatically reject the assertion that God 
created hell with the express purpose of putting the great ma- 
jority of the human race there. No, such a thought is downright 
blasphemy, for God created man for happiness, and supplies him 
with all the means needed to attain it, and one of the chief means 
is the threat of punishment to the transgressors of His laws. 
Hence hell is the choice of the sinners themselves ; it is the result 
of their own free acts. 

Here Mr. James Mill, like other assailants of the Catholic doc- 
trine of eternal punishment, identifies it — perhaps more from 
ignorance than from perversity — with the Calvinist heresy of an- 
tecedent reprobation, decreed by God for His own glory and inde- 
pendently of the foreseen wickedness and impenitence of men. 
For a brief statement of the doctrine of the Catholic Church, 
founded on immemorial tradition, and diametrically opposed to 
the horrible Calvinist creed see nn. 406, 680. 

In the second place, we may ask: Does God's prescience or 
foreknowledge of man's actions, whether good or evil, tamper 
with his liberty? Certainly not, as it has been proved above 
(n. 548). Hence if man, abusing the gift of free will, trans- 
gresses God's holy laws, forfeits the eternal happiness of the 
just, and incurs the everlasting misery of the wicked, he can only 
blame himself for the loss of his blissful destiny and the merited 
infliction of never ending woes. 



476 Chief Objections Against Hell's Eternity 

CHAPTER VI 

WHY DID ALMIGHTY GOD DECREE TO CREATE 
MAN FREE? 

DIFFICULTY XIV 

641. Parishioner. — I am of the opinion that if some reasons 
could be assigned why Almighty God decreed to bestow on men 
the precious gift of liberty, though He knew that some would 
make an ill use of it, many prejudices and false notions would 
be dispelled, and that there would be a juster and more correct 
understanding of the wisdom, goodness, and justice of Divine 
Providence in the government of the world. 

642. Curate.— As to the reasons why Almighty God preferred 
to endow men with free will, though He foresaw they would at 
times make an ill use of it, and thus cause their own perdition, 
we find them ably summarized and presented in the article by 
Right Rev. John S. Vaughan on the "Existence of Moral Evil," 
which was published in the Irish Ecclesiastical Record of No- 
vember, 1899 : 

"If we may be allowed, with all reverence, to put the matter 
in a human way — God, having determined to create man, had still 
to choose between two courses. For the sake of greater clearness, 
we may suppose that the Creator mused within Himself, saying : 
'I will create man. I will endow him with intelligence, and 
reason and the capacity of knowing Me, his Maker. But shall 
I make him a mere piece of mechanism, a machine, an automa- 
ton, moved only, as the brute beasts are moved, by internal and 
external stimuli; and necessarily obedient to the strongest im- 
pulses ; or shall I, on the contrary, make him free ? I will weigh 
the matter, and compare the advantages and the disadvantages. 
If I decide to withhold the gift of free will, there will be no sin. 
True, man will be as innocent as the fishes that swim in the 
waters, and as immaculate as the flowers that glisten by the road- 
side. Just imagine, we should then contemplate a world un- 
stained by any moral guilt, a world without sin ! 

"Unquestionably. But if this would give us a world with- 
out sin, it would give us also a world without virtue, a world 
void of all moral excellence. Man would have no more sin than 
a rock or a stone ; but then he would have rro more goodness, no 
more holiness, no more sanctity, than a rock or a stone either. 

643. "On the whole, then, it would seem better to extend to 
man the opportunities of practising virtue, even though such 
opportunities carry with them the risk of sin. God saw the ad- 
vantages of granting man free will, so He resolved to grant it. 



And Their Solution 471 

Among the considerations which determined Him in His deci- 
sion, perhaps we may venture to suggest the following five as 
among the most important. 

''First consideration. — If man were not endowed with free 
will, then the entire race must forever remain wholly incapable 
of the least act of virtue. 

"Second consideration. — If free will was not to be the pre- 
rogative of man, then God would not be freely served by any 
of His visible, earthly creatures. Sun, moon, and stars, together 
with the earth, and all the earth contains, serve God and obey 
Him. Truly, but theirs is not a voluntary service. They obey 
because they cannot do otherwise. But God wishes to be served, 
at least by His rational creatures, with a spontaneous and volun- 
tary service ; with the homage of the heart and of the affections. 
And even though all might not employ their free will aright, yet 
God foresaw that many would. 

"Third consideration. — We may suppose that God was the 
more ready to grant the favor, because whosoever abused His 
free will and committed crime, would not only be punished for 
his transgression, which would restore the balance of justice, but 
would be obliged to acknowledge that he had none but himself 
to blame. He would realize that if he ran counter to the di- 
vine commands and received condign punishment, it would be 
wholly and entirely his own doing and in no way imputable to 
God. 

"Fourth consideration. — Another reason moving God to give 
man free will was, that such a system opens out to God a vastly 
wider and grander scope for the exercise and the manifestation 
of His divine attributes, especially of His power and His jus- 
tice in punishing those who deliberately scoff and set His will at 
defiance, and still more of His infinite love and generosity in 
rewarding those who voluntarily and lovingly serve Him, and 
who exercise their freedom merely to honor and glorify His 
name. Further, it would also enable Him the more easily to 
show forth His boundless mercy and compassion, in pardoning 
and washing out sin, and in receiving even the greatest and basest 
rebel — if only repentant — back into His grace and favor. 

"Fifth consideration. — And there is yet another considera- 
tion that must have strongly influenced God to grant man free 
will, even in spite of the enormous sins and appalling crimes that 
He foresaw would sometimes be the consequences of this dan- 
gerous gift. I mean the consideration that He, the Omnipotent 
and the Omniscient, is able to bring good out of evil — not only 
out of physical evil, but, what is immeasurably more divine and 
marvelous, out of moral evil ; out of positive and heinous crime ; 
out of hatred, jealousies, vindictiveness, and bloodthirstiness. 
Yes, in giving man free will, God knew that sins — and great 



478 Chief Objections Against Hell's Eternity 

sins— would result ; but He also knew that He was and is pow- 
erful enough to turn even the very sinfulness of sinners to the 
ultimate advantage of the just, and to the increase of His own 
eternal honor and glory. 

' 'Do not think,' writes St. Augustine, 'that God has no pur- 
pose in view by tolerating the wicked in this world, and that He 
obtains no good from their existence. For every evil man is 
permitted to live either that he may be converted or that through 
him the just man may be tried.' I 

644. "Thus, although the condition of this or that particu- 
lar individual may be worse by reason of his possessing free 
will, yet we must bear two facts in mind. The one is, that not 
even so much as one individual need suffer, except through his 
own fault; and the other is, that whatever amount of suffering 
free will might bring to the individual who makes an evil use of 
it, it will nevertheless always be to the advantage of the Church 
in general, and of the race as a whole; in some measure, even 
here upon earth, but above all in its effects upon the permanent 
state of the blessed in heaven. 

''After a due consideration of this point, it is impossible not to 
see that the permission of moral evil affords one of the proofs — ■ 
not, indeed, of God's want of goodness — but rather of the limit- 
less extent of His goodness, and of His extraordinary solicitude 
for the development of the higher and more heroic forms of vir- 
tue in His subjects." 



CHAPTER VII 
DIFFICULTIES XV TO XX 

DIFFICULTY XV 

645. Parishioner. — A Protestant preacher, a minister of the 
Universalist church of the town, was requested to tell why he 
held and taught the doctrine that in the end all will be saved, 
and sing in heaven God's mercies for all eternity, as foretold by 
King David. 1 He was evidently prepared to comply, for with- 
out hesitation he stated his case as follows : 

"God, it is true, has threatened eternal punishment, as we read 
in the Bible. But He does not inflict it, for He has a secret pur- 
pose of mercy to save the finally impenitent. I allow that the 
punishment is said to be eternal, but no such thing was ever 
meant. It is only a mode of expression used by God as a kind 
Father to deter His children from sin. And this is the most won- 
derful illustration of the Lord's infinite goodness. Many sur- 
prises await us in the next world, but this will be the most as- 

t Fourth Lesson in Coena Domini, i Ps. lxxxviii. 2. 



And Their Solution 479 

tounding of all, to find that not one individual of the vast human 
family on earth will be missed in heaven. This is in substance 
the creed of the Universalist Church, and I do not know of any 
other that gives us a better idea of the infinite goodness and 
mercy of God." 

646. Curate. — I must, first of all, observe that God has not 
merely threatened eternal pains, but He has also plainly inti- 
mated that He will inflict them. Our Lord predicted for the 
wicked a ''resurrection unto judgment," 2 that is, unto damna- 
tion, and that they shall depart into ' ' everlasting punishment. ' ' 3 
Now these are not mere threatenings but predictions, and what- 
ever God predicts shall infallibly happen. The wicked will be 
damned not because their damnation is foretold, but it has been 
foretold because the Omniscient Judge has foreseen their obsti- 
nacy and final impenitence. It is, then, just as certain that the 
finally impenitent will be doomed to everlasting punishment as 
that the Lord is infinitely veracious, for all His predictions are 
to be faithfully verified. "The Lord is faithful in all His 
words. ' ' 4 

As eternal punishment is a just retribution of mortal sin, un- 
retracted and unrepented, even to the last dying breath of the 
offender, it is not only right for God to threaten it, but it is 
likewise right for Him to inflict it. If such a penalty were not 
a just award, it would be wrong to threaten it, however desirable 
the ends that might be obtained. The question then is reduced 
to this : Has God revealed the doctrine of endless punishment ? 
That He has done so in the clearest language has been abundantly 
proved in Part VI of this book. What, then, is the mere sugges- 
tion of the possibility of a secret, divine purpose of ultimate de- 
liverance of all sinners, but casting doubts upon God's veracity? 
If any one threatens what he never intends to inflict, he is guilty 
of falsehood. May God ever tell a lie by uttering empty men- 
aces? But, they tell us, instances are found in the Bible itself, 
from which it plainly appears that God threatened certain pun- 
ishments, which He did not inflict. Thus He threatened to de- 
stroy Nineve, and yet He spared it. 5 But this and similar ex- 
amples are far from favoring the cause of Universalism, for in 
the case alleged and like occurrences it is always a question of 
conditional threatenings. In fact, why was the prophet Jonas 
sent to warn the inhabitants of that wicked city, if this were 
not so? 

647. The theory of final general salvation and heavenly bliss 
for all sinners, propounded and defended by the Universalists, 
is completely nullified by this other argument. Doubtless eternal 
happiness is promised by the Lord to the righteous. But what 
does such promise amount to according to their theory? If, ac- 

2 John v. 29. 3 Matt. xxv. 46. * p s . C xliv. 13. 

s Jonas iii. 10. 



480 Chief Objections Against Hell's Eternity 

cording to their view, Almighty God, without violating any of 
His attributes, may threaten what He never intended to execute, 
so He may utter promises which He never meant to fulfil. Such 
a consequence would unsettle our entire belief in the word of 
God as a revelation of His dealings with mankind. As the 
schoolmen say: "Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus." — "At 
fault in one point; unreliable in all." The objection we are 
refuting means simply this : God may threaten, it is true, but 
He is too good to inflict. Sin may be very heinous in God's 
sight, but not so heinous as to warrant Him to chastise it. We 
cannot help wondering that this is exactly the form of the 
original temptation from the devil in the Garden of Eden. 
"And the serpent said to the woman: No, you shall not die 
the death." 6 The Evil One, mind well, does not deny that God 
threatened, but denies that He will inflict. What greater dis- 
honor could be done to the Most High than to admit that He has 
spoken and at the same time to deny that He told the truth and 
meant the opposite of what He said ! 

DIFFICULTY XVI 

648. Parishioner. — The same Universalist minister the next 
evening said that his previous argument might be clinched by the 
following consideration : 

"There is," he said, "a remarkable difference between prom- 
ises and threatenings. He that promises passes over a right 
to another and thereby stands obliged to him in justice and 
faithfulness to make good his promise. If he fails to do so, the 
party to whom the promise was made is not only disappointed, 
but also injuriously dealt with. But in threatenings it is quite 
otherwise. He that threatens keeps the right to punish in his 
own hands. He is not obliged to execute what he has threat- 
ened and may without failing in veracity remit and abate as 
much as he pleases of the punishment that he had threatened." 7 

649. Curate. — This is a somewhat hoary sophistical reason, 
borrowed from Tillotson, an Anglican prelate of the seventeenth 
century, and is found in the fourth volume of his sermons. 
Hence the Universalists, who propose it in our day, have not even 
the merit of originality in presenting it. In the first place, we 
are glad to find that the reverend gentleman is liberal enough 
to admit that the lot of the righteous is safe, for God 's promises 
made to them of eternal happiness must be faithfully fulfilled. 
But what about the threats of everlasting punishment? May 
God refrain from executing them ? By no means, and the prin- 
cipal reason is that here it is a question not only of mere threats, 
but also of solemn predictions, and whatever God predicts or 
foretells will be infallibly carried out. "Heaven and earth," 

6 Gen. iii. 4. 7 Reid, Everlasting Punishment, pp. 379-380, 



And Their Solution 481 

says Christ, "shall pass away, but My words shall not pass 
away." 8 "Amen, I say unto you, one jot or one tittle shall 
not pass of the law, till all be fulfilled. ' ' 9 

We ask our adversaries: Is there no reality corresponding 
to God 's threatenings ? How do you explain, then, the following 
positive announcements issued from the mouth of Him who is 
eternal truth ? ' ' The rich man also died and he was buried in 
hell." 10 "None of them is lost but the son of perdition." 11 
* ' He will bring those evil men to an evil end, ' ' 12 Acting in ac- 
cordance with the merciful designs of God, who entreats, warns, 
and threatens in order that by timely repentance and persevering 
virtue we may escape the punishment and gain the reward, let 
us not deceive ourselves by such interpretations of His words as 
will defeat His purpose, and cause our everlasting woe. 

650. On the hypothesis of our adversaries the Universalists, 
in spite of the most clear proclamation of our Divine Saviour in 
the Gospel of St. Mark, that "their worm dieth not and the fire 
is not extinguished, ' ' 13 repeated three times, their worm, after 
all, is not deathless, and the fire is not going to burn them at 
all. And the chaff, which St. John the Baptist proclaimed shall 
be burned with unquenchable fire, 14 according to the Universal- 
ists, has a far better lot in store, for it shall be some time or 
other gathered with the wheat into the barn. And thus, as none 
shall be condemned to everlasting punishment, the angels shall 
be dispensed from the task of separating the wicked from the 
just, though our Blessed Lord foretold that they shall have to 
do so. "The angels shall go out and shall separate the wicked 
from among the just." 15 Hence the dear Lord and Supreme 
Judge will have only one sentence to pronounce. He will not 
say: "Depart from Me," but He will welcome all to the king- 
dom of His Father, "Come, ye blessed." 

Whoever reflects that a denial of the orthodox Christian doc- 
trine concerning the divinely foretold condemnation of the 
wicked completely nullifies Christ 's most impressive warnings and 
threats, cannot but be convinced that all theories opposed to the 
traditional dogma of hell's eternity for the impenitent are both 
unscriptural and absurd. 

651. If Christ, according to the neo-Origenists, did not tell 
the truth when He threatened sinners with eternal punishment, 
neither did He do so when He promised to the just everlasting 
life. To those who answer that by His threats the Lord meant 
to deter men from evil-doing, we reply, that if He could utter a 
false menace to restrain men from sin, He could likewise make a 
false promise to induce them to virtue. Such is the reasoning of 
St. Gregory the Great. 16 

s Matt. xxiv. 35. » Ibid., v. 18. 10 Luke xvi. 22. 

ii John xvii. 12. 12 Matt. xxi. 41. is Mark ix. 42-47. 

14 Matt. iii. 12. is Matt. xiii. 49. iBMor. xxxiv. 16. 



482 Chief Objections Against Hell's Eternity 

DIFFICULTY XVII 

652. Parishioner. — One of the guests, a professor of philos- 
ophy, said with an air of triumph and defiance: " Though I 
have read many books dealing with the subject now under dis- 
cussion, yet I must say that I have not as yet seen in any of them 
a plausible answer to the following question: Why does Al- 
mighty God create souls whose eternal damnation He foresees ? ' ' 

653. Curate. — The gentleman was evidently speaking on be- 
half of the objectors who take it for granted that no satisfactory 
answer can be given to that objection. They consequently be- 
lieve that they are justified in concluding that there is no such 
thing as eternal damnation even for a single human soul. Thus 
God 's honor is safeguarded and the triumph of His all-embracing 
mercy is secured. 

This is called by the Universalists their Achilles, a clinching 
argument, which they deem to be unanswerable. It will be my 
task to disabuse them of their illusion and to prove that far abler 
pens than mine have solved this difficulty long ago, and shown 
that nothing can be concluded from it against the attributes of 
divine goodness, wisdom, and justice, and hell's eternity for the 
impenitent. 

As this objection comes in contact with several points of re- 
vealed doctrine, I shall have to discuss it at some length, so as 
to close all avenues to a reply. The full import of the objection 
we are dealing with, is reduced to this: "God owes it to His 
wisdom, goodness, and justice not to create souls which, He fore- 
sees, will be guilty of sin, will die impenitent, and should there- 
fore he condemned to the endless torments of hell. ' ' 

If God, on account of the perfection of His attributes, cannot 
create a soul, whose final wilful impenitence and consequent dam- 
nation He foresees, then all the souls which He has created and 
shall create to the crack of doom are infallibly certain of their 
eternal happiness, for hell being closed, done away with, the only 
alternative left for all human beings is the bliss of heaven for 
all men no matter how wicked they may have been. 

Armed with this assurance, resting on the supposed claims and 
requirements of God's own attributes, human liberty will run 
riot, recognize neither rule nor restraint, and will enjoy the full 
power of abandoning itself to an unchecked gratification or of its 
disorderly passions, and give full scope to all the seductions and 
allurements of evil. God becomes, as it were, powerless before 
the reckless sinner. The day will come when the Supreme Judge, 
instead of punishing him for his rebellion, will be forced to open 
to him the gates of heaven ; for, according to the view of our ad- 
versaries, the mere fact of creation carries along with it the 
promise of an assured happiness, a happiness commensurate 
with the endless duration of the soul's existence beyond the 
grave. In this supposition not even the most obdurate sinner 



And Their Solution 483 

can be excluded from heavenly glory. What becomes, then, of 
the essential difference between good and evil; between virtue 
and vice; between St. Peter and Nero, his murderer; between 
Blessed Thomas More and the lustful tyrant, Henry VIII; be- 
tween the martyrs and their executioners? If sin, however 
grievous and multiplied, cannot deprive the offender of heaven's 
happiness, it will cease to inspire fear and horror ; and the crimi- 
nal, made bold by impunity, will defy God's anger, because the 
mere fact of his existence assures him of the forthcoming eternal 
bliss, notwithstanding all his iniquities. Behold here the legiti- 
mate and inevitable consequence of the theory of the Universal- 
ists ; a consequence, which reveals in the clearest light the falsity 
of the principle from which it is logically derived. A principle 
that leads to consequences destructive of all moral restraints 
and that is most injurious to God's infinite perfections, cannot 
but be radically wrong. No healthy, harmless, pure water can 
flow from a poisonous spring. 

654. That many enormous crimes are perpetrated by men 
through abuse of their liberty, no one can deny. Now, I ask: 
Should the Almighty, whose laws are thus set at defiance and 
trampled under foot, punish crimes and sins, or should He not? 
If He should, we again ask, when must He chastise the guilty — 
in this life or in the next ? That many criminals escape all pun- 
ishment in the present life, even from the arm of earthly powers, 
is a self-evident fact. We proved in Part VII that the temporary 
punishments that may be inflicted in this life are utterly insuffi- 
cient to deter men from crime, and make due reparation to 
God's offended majesty. Then shall they be punished in the 
next world? Not at all, if we admit the reasoning of our oppo- 
nents that God cannot, consistently with His attributes, create 
souls which He foresees are to be punished on account of their 
sins. 

655, As to the other alternative; namely, that God should not 
punish sin, the absurdity is too glaring to deserve a refutation. 
A God either unable or unwilling to punish sin would be inferior 
to the meanest, most insignificant legislator that ever lived; 
hence, He would be no God at all. Nay, He would be inferior to 
the chief deity of the ancient Romans, whom they called Jupiter 
Tonans, Thundering Jove, who is described as the avenger of the 
guilty by the three following ancient writers: 

Homer. — ' ' Though Olympian Jove does not avenge at once, he 
shall avenge. ' ' 1T 

Herodotus. — "The gods inflict heavy punishment on great 
crimes. " 18 

Euripides. — "The power of the Deity is called forth slowly, 
but then it is unerring, chastising those who do things contrary 
to its laws." 19 

17 Iliad, iv. 160. is Hist. ii. 120. is Bacch, 882. 



484 Chief Objections Against Hell's Eternity 

656. St. John Damascene in his dialogue with the Maniche- 
ans, who had proposed to him the very same difficulty we are 
now dealing with, sets down some principles and thoughts that 
will throw considerable light on the subject : 

"Why," asks the Manichean, "did God create Satan?" 

"It is through His goodness to make him happy." 

"But God foreknew that, owing to his rebellion, he would be 
punished and made unhappy." 

1 ' That does not matter, since it is only through his own fault 
that he damned himself." 

' ' Agreed : But how is it that an infinitely good God, knowing 
that Satan would be damned through his own fault, created him 
notwithstanding this prevision?" 

The learned Damascene concludes the dialogue by thus an- 
swering the last question of the Manichean : 

"If the prevision of future sins that will be freely committed 
by the creature should prevent God from exercising His good- 
ness in creating, evil would prevail against good, and the malice 
of the creature would overcome the goodness of the Creator. ' ' 

A similar thought was uttered by St. Leo the Great who said : 
"Neither angelic nor human malice could deprive God of His 
benevolence toward His creatures. ' ' 20 

St. Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury and Doctor of the 
Church, discusses the question thus: "Why did the devil for- 
feit original justice? Because he willed it. And why did he 
will it? Only because he willed it and resolved to become the 
author of his own woes. ' ' 

657. Here I am reminded of the clever answer given by a 
Catholic child to the following question put by the teacher of the 
Sunday-school class: 

"Did God create the devil?" 

' ' No, God made him an angel, and, by committing sin, he made 
himself a devil. ' ' 21 

There can be no other answer. This is the character of the 
malice and essential evil of sin ; by being the personal and only 
cause of his own calamities the sinner, of his own accord, places 
himself beyond the beneficent bounty of Him who, being essen- 
tially good, desires nothing more than to shower the wealth of 
His gifts on the creatures He made. 22 

658. We append here some additional reflections justifying 
God's action in creating souls whose rebellion and impenitence 
He foreknows. 

To be, to exist, does not depend on ourselves, but on God alone. 
But to be good depends both on God and on ourselves. God, on 
His part, gives us the power to be good. As the sun He sheds 

20 Serm. de Nativ. Domin. 21 p g . xviii. 8, and Ps. cxviii. 130. 

22 See Enchiridion Patr., p. 839. 



And Their Solution 485 

the rays of His bounty on all His creatures. Both a prophet 
and an Apostle bear testimony to this truth : ' ' The Lord hath set 
His tabernacle in the Sun, . . . and there is no one that can hide 
himself from His heat." 23 St. John the Evangelist writes of 
the Incarnate Word: "That was the true light, which enlight- 
eneth every man that cometh into this world. " 24 If we will it, 
we may share in His goodness here below and enjoy the beati- 
fying light of His presence hereafter. But if we are blind to our 
own eternal interests and refuse to love what is good, we thereby 
exclude ourselves from participating in it, both in this life and 
in the next. 

In Holy Scripture hell and its punishments are constantly de- 
clared to be of man's, not of God's, making, and the inevitable 
result of man's moral freedom. According to divine revelation, 
God created man with every power and faculty for enjoying per- 
fect happiness: hence it is clearly God's will that he should be 
eternally happy. He has made marvelous provisions for the 
effacement of sin, the only obstacle to the attainment of heavenly 
bliss, and for restoring the most inveterate transgressors to His 
favor. The conclusion of our Saviour's parable, "Many are 
called, but few are chosen," presents no difficulty, for it simply 
means that God does the calling, but man makes the choice ; that 
is, God calls men to faith and salvation, but few respond to His 
invitation and co-operate to His grace. As we read in Ecclesias- 
ticus, 25 "Before man is life and death, good and evil, that 
which he shall choose shall be given him. ' ' 

Is it just, then, that on account of man's resistance Divine 
Goodness should refrain from imparting His benefits, of which 
the first and root of all others is the gift of existence ? Human 
malice must not triumph over Divine Goodness and close the 
gates of God's beneficence toward His creatures. Should hu- 
man malice, bent on sin, be allowed to triumph and render bar- 
ren the beneficent dispositions of God's bounty and liberality, 
then no free being should be created, for, possessing the gift of 
freedom, it might abuse it, and thus render itself amenable to 
eternal pains. (See nn. 550, 557, 559.) 

DIFFICULTY XVIII 

659. Parishioner. — As I was attentively recalling your an- 
swer to the previous question this other difficulty occurred to me : 
Why did Almighty God not decree to bestow the gift of creation 
only on those angelic and human beings which He foreknew 
would either make a rightful use of their liberty, or, if they 
sinned, they would obtain forgiveness by sincere and timely re- 
pentance ? 

660. Curate. — This seems to me a correct answer: As such 
23 p s . xviii. 6, 7. 24 John i. 0. 25 Ecclus. xv. 18. 



486 Chief Objections Against Hell's Eternity 

a decree would depend exclusively on the divine will; and, as 
there exists no revelation, that we know of, telling us what God 
might do in that other order of providence, we poor mortals are 
not at liberty to scrutinize God's secret counsels, lest, by doing 
so, we should incur the punishment threatened in Holy Writ: 
"He that is a searcher of majesty shall be overwhelmed by 
glory." 26 For to search into God's incomprehensible majesty 
and to pretend to sound the depths of His wisdom is exposing our 
weak understanding to be blinded with an excess of light which 
it cannot comprehend. When we are confronted with the se- 
cret mysterious counsels of the Creator our attitude should be 
one of humble submission to His inscrutable designs, and we 
should exclaim with St. Paul: "0 the depth of the riches of the 
wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible 
are His judgments, and how unsearchable His ways ! For, who 
hath known the mind of the Lord ? Or who hath been His coun- 
selor?" 27 

As to the reasons why Almighty God preferred to endow men 
with free will, though He foresaw that they would at times make 
ill use of it, they have already been given from the distinguished 
writer, the Right Reverend John J. Vaughan. 

661. We must, however, observe that if, for the reason alleged, 
our opponent's question cannot be directly answered, Catholic 
truth would remain untouched, for, as shown above, nothing 
could be inferred from such silence against the justice of eternal 
punishment, or against the divine attributes of God's wisdom, 
goodness, and justice in the creation of free beings which He 
foreknew would incur eternal punishment by the abuse of their 
liberty and final impenitence. 

If God should refrain from creating free rational beings be- 
cause of the possible abuse that some might make of their lib- 
erty, malice — we again repeat it — would indeed triumph over 
goodness and countless multitudes of human creatures would be 
debarred from partaking of God's priceless gifts here and here- 
after. As Christ says in His Gospel, "Is it not lawful for Me 
to do what I will ? is thy eye evil, because I am good ? " 28 

The Lord endowed man with the gift of liberty to enable him 
to secure, by his free co-operation with grace, the end of his 
existence, the possession of heavenly happiness, and thus per- 
fectly realize God 's merciful and bountiful designs in his regard. 
Man, we admit, may, by the abuse of that marvelous preroga- 
tive, act contrary to God's benevolent designs and thus forfeit 
his own happiness. What is thus but the possibility of sin, which 
unthinking men condemn as if it were a blot on creation, whilst 
it is nothing, after all, but the very condition of our infinite in- 
feriority to God and of the superiority of our nature over the 

26Prov. xxv. 27. 27 Rom. xi. 33, 34. 28 Matt. xx. 15. 



And Their Solution 487 

brute creation. The possibility of abusing man's most eminent 
endowment, his liberty, may indeed be called an imperfection, 
but right reason will not allow us to blame Almighty God on this 
account; for, as we have shown above, imperfection is the in- 
evitable condition of every created, contingent being, and it can 
become prejudicial to man only when he wills it. Impenitent 
sinners are truly the authors of their own damnation and of all 
consequent woes: hence of such the Archangel Raphael said: 
"They that commit sin and iniquity are enemies to their own 
soul. " 29 " The Lord trieth the just and the wicked ; but he that 
loveth iniquity hateth his own soul. ' ' 30 But we know from di- 
vine revelation that our natural imperfections, particularly the 
most notable, that of liability to sin, will be remedied by grace 
in the life of glory. Hence, as we proved in Part IV, the angels 
and saints in heaven, though retaining their freedom, are no 
longer liable to sin. 

DIFFICULTY XIX 

662. Parishioner. — Another admirer of the late Henry Ward 
Beecher stated that this distinguished divine had devised a 
theory which is supposed to solve all difficulties against eternal 
punishment drawn from God's attributes. He said in one of his 
sermons: "Future punishment may be eternal, and yet not a 
single individual may be eternally punished. ' ' 31 

663. Curate. — This is doubtless good news for impenitent sin- 
ners, as it lifts that pressure which Holy Writ left upon them by 
this utterance of St. Peter: "If the just man shall scarcely be 
saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear ? " 32 It 
practically says to such persons : "It is, of course, much better 
for you to be good here and now; but if you cannot persuade 
yourselves to that, don 't be afraid ; there will be another chance 
in the next world, and you may be saved there; as a prac- 
tical thing, it will be quite possible for you to reform and change 
in the future life." As the same reasoning may be addressed 
to other recalcitrant sinners, it follows that poor Satan may 
after all have no human inmate in his abode. 

This theory of the late Dr. Beecher is based on two gratuitous 
suppositions: First, he takes it for granted that there will be 
for sinners a second trial in the next world. Secondly, he as- 
sumes that this second trial may be successfully undergone by 
every sinner, who will thus escape punishment. We have dis- 
posed of both these assumptions under Difficulty XI, to which 
the reader is referred. 

But, strange to say, the learned divine flatly contradicts him- 
self, for in the same sermon he writes : ' ' The prospect for any 

29 Tob. xii. 10. 30 p s . x . 6. 31 Defense, p. i, p. 74. 

32 1 Peter iv. 18. 



488 Chief Objections Against Hell's Eternity 

man who goes out of this life resolute in sin may well make him 
tremble for himself. ' ' 

664. Moreover, divine revelation assures us that hell exists 
and is inhabited by a large number of spirits, Lucifer and his 
followers, the fallen angels, punished for their rebellion against 
their Maker. 

We find in the Gospel the following sentences of Christ: 
"Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, which was 
prepared for the devil and his angels." 33 "And Jesus said to 
them [the seventy-two disciples] : I saw Satan like lightning 
falling from heaven. ' ' 3 * St. Peter writes : ' ' For if God spared 
not the angels that sinned, but delivered them, drawn down by 
infernal ropes to the lower hell, unto torments. ' ' 35 However 
much then we may wish to keep hell empty, we cannot empty it 
of the bad angels, the demons. 38 

665. But are there human creatures in hell ? Let us see what 
the Church, our highest living authority upon earth, has to say 
on this question. She says much less than some people would 
expect, and this for the best of reasons ; namely, the fact that she 
possesses no explicit revelation on this point. Hence, we cannot 
expect from her a positive, dogmatic definition. As to the case 
of the traitor Judas, no official pronouncement shall ever be 
needed to determine his fate, as we have the words of the Judge 
Himself, Christ, who said of that wretched renegade disciple: 
1 ' It were better for him, if that man had not been born. ' ' 37 
"None of them is lost but the son of perdition." 38 

However, the silence of the Church cannot be taken as imply- 
ing what the Universalists claim; namely, that, even if there 
be a hell, no human being will meet the lot of the rebel angels. 
And why so? There are several reasons which, taken all to- 
gether, point to the conclusion that some human creatures, at 
least, have gone, are going, or will go to hell. What may be the 
number or proportion of mankind that will miss their happy 
destiny and incur eternal punishment, no one knows and nobody 
should venture to determine. To satisfy hypercritics, we sub- 
join the following justification of our assertion: 

A. At the last judgment Christ pictures a real separation, 
saying : ' ' The Son of man shall send His angels, and they shall 
gather out of His kingdom all scandals and them that work 
iniquity, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire. " 39 " And 
He [the Son of man] shall set the sheep on His right hand, but 
the goats on His left." 40 

666. How misleading such a picture would be as a plain fore- 
knowledge of the lot befitting the wicked and of the happiness 

33 Matt. xxv. 41. 34 Luke x. 18. »5 2 Peter ii. 4. 

36 See St. Thomas, Summa, p. 1, q. lxiii, art. 9. 37 Matt. xxvi. 24. 
as John xvii. 12. »» Matt. xiii. 41, 42. *oMatt. xxv. 33. 



And Their Solution 489 

reserved to the just, if at the day of judgment God should find 
that no separation was needed, and should therefore never have 
been foretold; if in the end they were all to be sheep and no 
goats; that the words, ''depart, ye cursed" would never be pro- 
nounced. And the same may be said of Christ's sentence: 
"And these [the wicked] shall go into everlasting punish- 
ment. ' ' 41 Now, against the obvious and overwhelming impres- 
sion conveyed by these and kindred passages that might be 
alleged, as for example, Apocalypse xx. 15, we cannot find any 
valid argument favoring the ultra-merciful theory of the Uni- 
versalists. For the texts adduced evidently imply that some will 
actually be found to incur condemnation. Neither must we be 
surprised at this final termination awaiting impenitent sinners. 
For when we consider the appalling amount of real wickedness, 
and that of the most wilful, malicious, and persistent kind, pre- 
vailing in the world, the idea that such perversity and impiety 
should finally escape all penalty would so stultify the whole 
arrangement and provision of God's omnipotence and justice as 
to be absurd and unthinkable in the extreme. 

667. As nothing has been definitely declared by the Catholic 
Church through her official medium of infallible teaching, the 
Supreme Pontiff or the General Councils, on the question of the 
comparative number of the saved and the lost, the matter is 
open to free discussion. Hence different opinions have been 
held by theological writers, which may all be reduced to two 
separate schools. There is what we may call the school of the 
rigorists, holding the view that the lost will outnumber the 
saved. The followers of the mild view, on the contrary, main- 
tain that the saved will outnumber the lost. But it was left to 
the Universalists of our times to devise the extreme liberal view 
emptying hell of its inhabitants altogether. 

668. We confess that we entertain a strong sympathy for those 
writers who take the moderate, milder view of the number of the 
damned, and who hold that they will be in the minority. But 
when it is proposed that their number be reduced to zero, such 
an interpretation appears altogether unwarranted when we re- 
flect that the whole tenor of the Bible teaching and of the Chris- 
tian tradition stands so strongly on the other side. 42 

Moreover, all that has been said in refutation of the anti- 
christian theories of Universalism, Restitutionism, and Annihila- 
tionism furnishes an additional proof that all the wicked, whom 
those theories suppose to be finally saved, or reduced to nothing, 
are the very ones that will prevent hell from remaining empty. 

4iMatth. xxv. 46. 

42 See the Bombay Examiner for April 17, 1915, edited by the distin- 
guished journalist, Father E. Hull, S. J., from whose article " Is Anybody 
in Hell?" we have borrowed the gist of our answer. 



490 Chief Objections Against Hell's Eternity 

669. Some contend that if we consider the general brevity of 
man's life, the earthly trial on which his eternal lot depends 
seems altogether too short. Hence, they conclude, there is a 
valid reason for believing that the Lord God has at His disposal 
some secret means by which He can bring about the conversion 
of the most obstinate characters in the world to come, leaving, of 
course, their liberty intact. 

To this we answer: The objectors, by assuming that man's 
earthly probation is altogether too short, plainly impeach God's 
justice and wisdom, as if He denied to man sufficient time for 
his choice between the service of the Lord and that of Satan. 
A theory or supposition that leads to such an unwarrantable 
conclusion must be radically wrong. During the brief span of 
man 's life does not Almighty God place before him good and evil, 
grace and sin, heaven and hell, and leave the free, untrammeled 
choice to himself? "Before man," says Holy Scripture, "is 
life and death, good and evil; that which he shall choose shall 
be given him. ' ' 43 

Moreover, when we reflect on the awful danger of mak- 
ing a bad choice, a disaster quite possible in the course of a long 
life exposed to numerous temptations, is it not an immense bene- 
fit that the time of our trial has been made much shorter than 
it might have been and actually was in the patriarchal age? 
It is precisely for this reason that Holy Scripture says: 

' ' The just man, if he be prevented with death, shall be in rest. 
... He was taken away lest wickedness should alter his under- 
standing, or deceit beguile his soul. . . . Therefore God hastened 
to bring him out of the midst of iniquities. ' ' 44 

It is plain that the speculations we are now refuting are abso- 
lutely useless and beside the mark, for here it is a question not 
of what God might have done, but of what He actually did in the 
present order of providence — a matter wholly depending on His 
free, sovereign will, made known to us in Holy Writ. 

That the existence of a future trial cannot be admitted has 
been fully demonstrated in the preceding part. 

DIFFICULTY XX 

670. Parishioner. — I have one more difficulty to propose : it is 
as follows : 

If it were true that the devils, even when out of hell by divine 
permission and wandering through the earth, are suffering the 
very intense pains of fire, how are we to account for the fact that 
in spite of such painful endurance they occupy themselves in 
deceiving and tempting men, and at times indulge in signs of 
playful levity. Suppose a man were placed on a burning pyre, 
would he, whilst in that dreadful situation, engage himself in 
anything concerning others? 

•a Eeclesiasticus xv. 18. 44 Wisdom, iv. 7, 11, 14. 



And Their Solution 491 

Curate. — There is more than one reply to this difficulty. In 
the first place, it is a mistake to apply the purely spiritual sub- 
stances the condition of human corporal beings ; as the mode of 
suffering of the former, that is, the power of endurance, though 
real, must differ essentially from that of the latter. For beings 
are affected by external agents according to the manner of their 
existence. The old schoolmen used to state this fact by saying: 
"Operatio sicut passio sequitur esse." 

Besides, we know the motives that impel the evil spirits to 
tempt men and drag them into perdition. They are chiefly two : 
First, their undying hatred against God, under whose mighty 
power they are made to feel the penalty of their rebellion. And 
as the Omnipotent is entirely beyond their reach, they strive to 
wreak their vengeance upon men, His creatures. Secondly, the 
demons are induced to seek the ruin of men's happy prospects 
by the extreme envy and jealousy they entertain against them; 
for human creatures, though vastly inferior to the fallen angels 
in natural endowments, are nevertheless destined to occupy in 
heaven the thrones left vacant by the rebellious angelic hosts. 

This is the truth the Church conveys to our mind in her 
liturgy for the Feast of the Guardian Angels. 

"Nam, quod corruerit proditor angelus, 
Concessis merit o pulsus honorious, 
Ardens invidia pellere nititur 
Quos coelo Deus advocat." 

i * For, since that from his glory in the skies, 
Th' apostate angel fell 
Burning with envy ever more he tries 
To drown our souls in hell. ' ' 

— Hymn for First Vespers. From the Roman Breviary, trans- 
lated by John, Marquess of Bute. 



CHAPTER VIII 

CONCLUDING* REFLECTIONS 

671. From the preceding discussion on the chief difficulties 
raised against the Christian dogma of the eternity of hell, there 
follows the conclusion, that, whilst, on the one hand, we solve 
all the objections put forth by our opponents, they, on the other, 
are utterly unable to refute our proofs, or advance any solid 
argument to justify their denial of that article of revealed Faith. 

They likewise fail to show that there exists any contradiction 
between this belief and the claims of right reason. This fact 



492 Chief Objections Against Hell's Eternity 

does not at all surprise us for, as the late Pius IX wrote, in his 
encyclical Qui Pluribus of 1846: "Reason and revelation have 
no cause to fear each other, for they are both derived from the 
same immutable source of truth, the Lord God. ' ' x 

As to the assertion of Rationalists that Christian believers, and 
Catholics in particular, are bound by their creed to accept as 
God's own word any doctrine, however absurd, when proposed 
by the Church as an article of faith, we need only call the atten- 
tion of our adversaries to the following testimonies from the pen 
of the two greatest theologians that Christendom has produced : 

St. Augustine writes: "God forbid that our subjection with 
regard to all that forms part of our faith should prevent us 
from inquiring into the reason of what we believe, since we 
could not even believe, if we were not endowed with reason." 2 

St. Thomas formulated the doctrine of the Church on this 
point by holding that: Reason could not and would not be- 
lieve, if it did not see that it is necessary to believe. 3 

As we have stated elsewhere, we fully subscribe to the tenet of 
several distinguished modern theologians, Cardinal Mazzella, 
Fathers Perrone, Hurter, Palmieri, Knoll, Jungmann, and 
others, who hold that reason alone, left to its natural light, can- 
not apodictically demonstrate the truth of eternal punishment. 
But, at the same time, we maintain with the aforementioned 
theologians that, when that dogma is once firmly established by 
the authority of divine revelation, human reason not only fails 
to disprove it, but, on the contrary, fully confirms it by strong 
arguments chiefly derived from ethical principles. Several of 
such arguments we have developed in the Remarks that form 
the subject of Part VIII of this work, which fully ratify the 
truth of the well-known adage that there cannot be any real con- 
flict between the teachings of divine revelation and the dictates 
of sound reason, a truth lately defined as an article of faith by 
the Fathers of the Vatican Council (1870), in these terms: 

672. "Although faith is above reason, there can never be any 
real discrepancy between faith and reason, since the same God 
who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light 
of reason on the human mind; and God cannot deny Himself, 
nor can truth contradict truth. The false appearance of such 
a contradiction is mainly due either to the dogma of faith not 
having been understood and expounded according to the mind 
of the Church or to the inventions of opinions having been taken 
for the verdict of reason. We therefore define that any assertion 
opposed to the truth of enlightened faith is entirely false. ' ' 4 

iD. Enchiridion, p. 435. 2 Enchiridion Patr. p. 617. 

3 Summa, p. i, q. i, art. 8. 

4 Constit, De Fide Catholica. D. Enchiridion, p. 478. For an exhaus- 
tive and very able discussion on this question see Murray, "Reason and 
Faith," vol. iii of his Theological Essays. 



PART X 

AFFIRMATIVE AND NEGATIVE TESTIMONIES 
OF PROTESTANT SECTS AND THEIR MIN- 
ISTERS ON THE ETERNAL PUNITIVE 
RETRIBUTION 

CHAPTER I 

BELIEF OF THE REFORMED CHURCHES OF THE SIX- 
TEENTH CENTURY IN THE ETERNITY OF PUNI- 
TIVE SANCTION 

673. The Reformers of the sixteenth century, whilst ostensibly 
pretending to aim at the internal reformation and renewal of the 
Church of God, as a matter of fact led their followers to revolt 
against her, and aimed at the perversion or abandonment of the 
principal truths believed till then by all the Christian communi- 
ties united with the Roman See. 

They consequently destroyed the unity of faith among several 
European nations, cut many millions off from the Catholic 
Church, and robbed them of the chief means of salvation and 
supernatural life. Not less than forty-one errors taught by 
Martin Luther were condemned by Pope Leo X in his Bull issued 
June 15, 1520. 1 

674. We here briefly recall some of his heretical errors re- 
ferring to the subject of our book : 

1. No soul, though free from actual, personal sin, can enter 
heaven before the last general judgment. 

2. The just man commits sin in every good work he performs. 

3. No one is sure that he is not always sinning. 

4. Human liberty has been lost by original sin; and, on this 
account, man sins mortally even when he does what he can to 
live righteously. 

5. The souls in purgatory are not sure of their salvation — at 
least, not all of them. 

6. The souls in purgatory are continually sinning. 

To save Christendom from such doctrinal disruption and the 
fatal consequences to which it inevitably leads, the Fathers of the 
Council of Trent and the Popes that ruled the Church during 
its celebration, raised their mighty voice, branded with anathema 
every heresy professed by the so-called Reformers, and thus pre- 
served in all its purity and integrity the deposit of revealed 
faith. 

iD. Enchiridion, pp. 257-260. 

493 



494 Affirmative and Negative Testimonies 

675. Though the doings of the sixteenth century heresiarchs 
were as destructive as they were disastrous, yet they found some 
fundamental truths of Catholic Faith so deeply rooted in the 
Christian conscience of the people that they did not venture to 
tamper with them and left them substantially intact. Among 
these truths is reckoned the common belief of the faithful in the 
everlasting duration of both the remunerative and the punitive 
sanction of God's laws. 

It would be impossible to exhibit in detail the eschatological 
teaching of the multitudinous Protestant confessions, both earlier 
and later, within the limit of this work. But there is hardly 
any need for it, because, as Mr. Oxenham observes, practically all 
of them, down to the Nine Articles of the Evangelical Alliance, 
organized in 1846, are agreed in asserting the doctrine of eternal 
punishment. Hence, Dr. Schaff in his "Creeds of Christen- 
dom, ' ' rightly classes among points coming within the consensus 
(agreement) of Latin, Greek, and Evangelical Christianity, the 
following dogmatic truths: "Heaven and Hell, the eternal 
blessedness of the saints and the eternal punishment of the 
wicked." 2 

We here append the official statements found in the Formu- 
laries of Faith of Protestant sects: 

676. I. The Confession of Augsburg, drawn up by Melancthon, 
and presented to the Emperor Charles V. at the Diet of Augs- 
burg, in 1530, was the first and most authoritative public docu- 
ment of the Lutheran Reformation. As late as 1853, it re- 
ceived the solemn recognition of an assembly of over fourteen 
hundred ministers of the Lutheran, Reformed, Evangelical, and 
Moravian communions held at Berlin. Article 17, of Christ's 
return to judgment, contains the following: "They also teach 
that in the consummation of the world [at the last day] Christ 
shall appear to judge, and shall raise up all the dead, and shall 
give unto the godly and the elect eternal life and everlasting 
joys; but ungodly men, and the devils, shall He condemn unto 
everlasting torments." They condemn the Anabaptists, who 
think that to condemned men and the devils there shall be an end 
of torments. Here we see the modern Origenists and the Uni- 
tarians condemned by a Protestant Tribunal, which shows itself 
to be on this question in full harmony with Papal Bulls. 3 

677. II. The Second Helvetic Confession, compiled by Bullin- 
ger and published at Zurich in 1566, holds the first rank among 
the Calvinists, as does that of Augsburg among the Lutherans. 
' ' We believe that infidels — unbelievers — are cast at once into hell 
(in Tartar a) from which the living cannot deliver them." 4 

In Chapter xi, Article 14, they condemn those who thought 

2 Qxenham, Catholic Eschatology, p. 210. * Id., p. 301. 

3 Schaff ; vol. iii, pp. 17, 18. 



Of Protestants on the Eternity of Hell 495 

that the devils and impious men will some time be delivered from 
their pains. We see here the so-called Restitutionists de- 
nounced. 5 In Article 13 of the same chapter we read: "Unbe- 
lieving and impious men will descend into hell (Tartar a) along 
with the devils, there to be forever burning, and never to be de- 
livered from their torments. ' ' 6 

678. III. The Heidelberg Catechism, in general use among the 
Reformed Churches of Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Scotland, 
and the United States of America, to the question, "Will God 
suffer disobedience and apostasy to go unpunished ? ' ' the follow- 
ing answer is given: "By no means; but He is terribly dis- 
pleased with our inborn as well as actual sin, and will punish 
them in just judgment in time and eternity." 7 And further: 
"Is then God not also merciful?" "God is indeed merciful, but 
He is likewise just; wherefore His justice requires that sin be 
punished with everlasting punishment, both of soul and body. ' ' 8 

679. IV. For English readers a more immediate interest at- 
taches to the Westminster Confession of Faith, adopted in 1647, 
and approved by the General Assembly of the Scotch Presby- 
terian Church. From that day to this it constitutes the chief 
doctrinal standard in Scotland and elsewhere. In Chapter 
XXXII, n. 1, we read : ' ' The bodies of men, after death, return 
to dust, and see corruption ; but their souls (which neither die, 
nor sleep), having an immortal subsistance, immediately return 
to God who gave them." 9 "The souls of the righteous being 
made perfect in holiness are received into the highest heavens, 
where they behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting 
for the full redemption of their bodies; and the souls of the 
wicked are cast into hell, where they remain in torments and 
utter darkness. ' ' 10 

The duration of both retributions, reward and punishment, is 
distinctly stated in Chapter XXXIII, on the Last Judgment: 
' * Then shall the righteous go into everlasting life ; but the wicked, 
who knew not God, and obeyed not the Gospel of Jesus Christ, 
shall be cast into eternal torments. " X1 

680. Calvin's cruel and unscriptural doctrine on predestina- 
tion, independently of man's work, was endorsed by the West- 
minster Assembly, and is thus expressed: "By the decree of 
God, for the manifestation of His glory, some men and angels are 
predestinated unto everlasting life and others are foreordained 
to everlasting death. Angels and men are thus predestinated 
unto everlasting life out of His mere free grace and love, without 
any foresight of faith or good works or perseverance in either of 
them. The rest of mankind, God was pleased, according to the 
unsearchable counsel of His own will, to pass by, and to ordain 

s Id., p. 257. 6 id, p. 257. i Id., p. 310. « Id., p. 311. 

QEccles. xii. 7. io Schaff, vol. iii, pp. 670, 671. n Id., p. 672. 



496 Affirmative and Negative Testimonies 

them to dishonor and wrath for their sin, to the praise of His 
glorious justice. The elect only have been redeemed by Christ, 
effectually called, justified, adopted, sanctified and saved." 12 
This is the horrible Calvinist doctrine adopted by the General 
Assembly of the Scotch Presbyterian Church. (See n. 406.) 

THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OP ENGLAND 

681. V. In the revision of the Articles purporting to contain 
a summary of the faith of that Church, the forty-two original 
Articles were reduced to thirty-nine. The forty-second article, 
in which eternal punishment had been directly asserted, was 
left out. In view of this deliberate omission, it was decided by 
the courts that the Articles do not inculcate this doctrine, and 
that clergymen obliged by the law to subscribe them, are not 
bound to believe and teach the doctrine of eternal punishment. 
Such a decision, whether issued by the Privy Council or any 
court of the English realm, is in direct contradiction to the eighth 
article, in which it is distinctly stated that the following three 
creeds are to be received and believed; namely, the Nicene, the 
Apostles', and the Athanasian, or Quicumque. This last symbol 
of faith asserts the doctrine on everlasting punishment in the 
following clear, unmistakable language : ' ' They that have done 
good shall go into eternal life ; but they that have done evil into 
everlasting fire. ' ' 

It is important to remark that in the revision of the Thirty- 
nine Articles approved by the Protestant Episcopal Church in 
the United States of America, made in the year 1801, at the 
General Convention held in Trenton, New Jersey, the Athanasian 
Creed was expunged. A short time ago the same thing was done 
by the Anglican ministers of Canada. What the ministers of 
the Established Church may hold nowadays on the Christian 
dogma of endless retribution for the wicked is difficult to know, 
especially in view of the decision of the courts cited above. 



CHAPTER II 

MODERN PROTESTANT CREEDS ON THE DURATION 
OF FUTURE PUNISHMENT 

682. The following quotations will bring our statements of 
non-Catholic so-called Evangelical denominations fairly up to 
date, and thus prove the unbroken unanimous belief of Christian 
Churches on the great truth of eternal retribution: 

I. The Congregational Union of England and Wales, adopted 
a. d. 1833 : Article XIX. ' ' They believe that Christ will finally 

12 Westminster Confession of Faith, a. d. 1647, Ch. iii, nn. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ; 
Schaff, Creeds of Christendom, vol. iii, pp. 608-610. 



Of Protestants on the Eternity of Hell 497 

come to judge the whole human race, according to their works ; 
that the bodies of the dead will be raised again ; and that Christ, 
the Supreme Judge, will divide the righteous from the wicked, 
and receive the righteous into life everlasting, but send away 
the wicked into everlasting punishment. ' ' x 

II. Declaration of Faith of the National Council of Con- 
gregational Churches, held at Boston, Mass., June 14-24, 
1865: 

"We believe also in the organized and visible Church, in the 
ministry of the Word, in the sacraments of Baptism and the 
Lord's Supper, in the resurrection of the body, and in the final 
judgment, the issues of which are eternal life and everlasting 
punishment. ' ' 2 

III. The Baptist Confession of 1688, adopted early in the 
eighteenth century by the Philadelphia Association of Baptist 
Churches. Its creed on future retribution is identical with that 
of the Westminster Confession of 1647. 

"Chap. XXXII: "The souls of the righteous, being then 
made perfect in holiness, are received into the highest heavens, 
where they behold the face of God in light and glory; and the 
souls of the wicked are cast into hell, where they remain in tor- 
ments and utter darkness." 

Chap. XXXIII, 11: "The righteous shall go into everlasting 
life, but the wicked shall be cast into eternal torments." 3 

IV. The New Hampshire Baptist Confession, a. d. 1833 : 
Article XVIII: "We believe that the wicked will be ad- 
judged to endless punishment, and the righteous to endless 
joy." 4 

V. Confession of the Free Will Baptists, a. d. 1834, 1868 : 
Chapter XXI: "Immediately after the General Judgment, 

the righteous shall enter into eternal life, and the wicked will go 
into a state of endless punishment. ' ' 5 

VI. The Confession of the Waldenses, 1655. 

They adopt the Augsburg Confession, which contains the fol- 
lowing Article XVII: "Christ shall give unto the godly and 
elect eternal life and everlasting joys ; but ungodly men and the 
devils shall He condemn unto endless torments. ' ' G They also 
hold Calvin 's horrible creed. 

Moreover, they use the Athanasian Symbol as a part of their 
creed taught to the children; they accept the Apostles' Creed, 
and admit the possession of eternal life as the recompense of the 
just, 7 

VII. The Confession of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 
a. d. 1829 : 

1 ' The written word declares the ample provision God has made 
for men's salvation, His determination to punish the finally im- 
i Schaff, vol. iii, p. 733. 2 id., p. 736. 3 id., pp. 671-672. 

* Id., p. 748. s id., p. 756. e id., pp. 17, 18, 761. * id., pp. 757, 764 



498 Affirmative and Negative Testimonies 

penitent with everlasting destruction, and to save the true be- 
liever with an everlasting salvation. ' ' 8 

Here it is important to observe that the word "destruction" 9 
cannot be understood as implying annihilation, for the Cumber- 
land Confession has adopted without alteration Chapter XXXIII 
of the Westminster Confession of Faith, in which the following 
statements occur : ' ' Then shall the righteous go into everlasting 
life; but the wicked shall be cast into eternal torments." 10 

VIII. Confession of the Evangelical Free Church of Geneva, 

A. D. 1848 : 

Article XIV: "We believe that the unjust shall go to ever- 
lasting punishment, whilst the just shall rejoice in life everlast- 
ing." 11 

IX. The doctrinal basis of the Evangelical Alliance, 1846, 
adopted at the organization of the American Branch of the 
Evangelical Alliance in January, 1867 : 

Article VIII: "The immortality of the soul, the resurrec- 
tion of the body, the judgment of the world by our Lord Jesus 
Christ, with the eternal blessedness of the righteous, and the 
eternal punishment of the wicked. ' ' 12 

The official, authentic documents we have cited prove that 
though the Protestant denominations we have mentioned radi- 
cally differ in many of their tenets from the doctrines of the 
Catholic Church, yet they substantially agree with her on the 
Christian dogma of eternal retribution. 

683. Hence, from the oldest Protestant Confession, held at 
Augsburg, a. d. 1530, to that of the Evangelical Alliance, or- 
ganized a. d. 1846, and adopted by the American Branch in 1867, 
that is, during the lapse of 337 years, the leading Protestant de- 
nominations have officially and publicly proclaimed their be- 
lief in the future retribution of eternal happiness for the just, 
and eternal punishment for the wicked. 

As to the reasons, motives, or arguments that may have in- 
duced the large majority of modern Protestant ministers, divines, 
and Biblical scholars to reject the old creed of their own re- 
spective denominations on the endless duration of future retri- 
bution, it is for them to inform their flocks and the public at 
large. 

Meanwhile we beg leave to call the attention of such recalci- 
trant pastors to the affirmative orthodox views expressed in the 
next chapter by prominent members, professors, and Biblical 
scholars of their own denominations ; and we would advise them 
to try to justify their negative attitude by refuting these affirma- 
tive views. If they succeed in so doing, they will prove to the 
world that, even if they are not right, they are at least consistent 
in their negative position, 
s Id., pp. 771, 772. 9 See nn. (615-618, 682). io Schaff, vol. iii, p. 672. 
ii Id., p. 785. 12 Id., p. 828. 



Of Protestants on the Eternity of Hell 499 



CHAPTER III 

THE CHRISTIAN DOGMA OF EVERLASTING RETRI- 
BUTION HELD AND DEFENDED BY MINI- 
STERS AND SCHOLARS OF PROTES- 
TANT DENOMINATIONS 

684. Should any one think that the doctrine professed by 
Protestant sects in the sixteenth and subsequent centuries on 
eternal retribution x has been abandoned by sectarian ministers, 
he would show a complete ignorance of the real situation of 
things. We are glad to acknowledge this fact, though some un- 
enviable exceptions must be taken into account, particularly dur- 
ing the last forty or fifty years, and in our own days. A special 
chapter of this Part will be devoted to these dissenting brethren. 
Meanwhile it is gratifying to be able to reckon among orthodox 
upholders of the doctrine of future retribution a galaxy of dis- 
tinguished, representative men, who, though differing from us in 
many points of revealed faith, yet have the courage to challenge 
the criticisms and sneers of unbelieving, voluptuous worldlings 
by boldly maintaining this fundamental article of the Christian 
Religion. Nay, as their extant writings show, they establish 
that dogma with such arguments as their opponents are utterly 
unable to refute. Hence it will be quite a relief to turn aside 
from the discordant and mutually destructive writings of Canon 
Farrar, E. White, R. W. Dale, Andrew Jukes, J. Baldwin Brown, 
and other adversaries, to the words of the authors referred to 
above, not less eloquent than learned, in full harmony with the 
traditional belief of Christendom and in perfect accord with the 
natural, obvious meaning of Holy Scripture. 

Numerous other scholars of different Christian denominations 
may have, no doubt, followed the noble example of those recorded 
in our book, but we had to confine our references to those with 
whose writings, name, and position we happen to be acquainted. 

685. The following are our chief sources of information on the 
present subject : 

I : " The Future Life, a Defence of the Orthodox View, by the 
Most Eminent American Scholars," in two parts, London, 1878. 
For brevity's sake, we shall use the term "Defense" to denote 
this work. 

II : ' ' That Unknown Country, or Future Retribution, accord- 
ing to the Opinions of Scholars and Divines of the Present 
Times," Springfield, Mass., 1890. This work will be indicated 
by the initial letters "U. C." 

686. After giving the name of the writer in alphabetical or- 
der, we shall cite one or two short passages which bear undoubted 

iSee im. (675-683). 



500 Affirmative and Negative Testimonies 

testimony to his orthodox, conservative view on the matter at 
issue. It is understood that the fact of our quoting the correct 
sentences of an author on the point we are discussing cannot be 
construed into an implicit endorsement of some of his erroneous 
views on other topics. 

1. Angus, Prof. Joseph, M.A., D.D., Baptist: 

"Eternal life for the righteous, and eternal torments for the 
wicked, this is the verdict of Sacred Scripture. To preach to 
sinners a larger hope, that is another chance, or the final salva- 
tion of all men is not the Message of the Gospel. ' ' 2 

2. Bartlett, Rev. S. C, D.D., President, Dartmouth College: 
4 'As to the doctrine of endless punishment, I accept the teach- 
ings of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of those to whom He com- 
mitted the Organization and Legislation of His Church. The 
doctrine is in harmony with other cardinal teachings of the 
Scripture. It accords with the divinely revealed view of the 
appalling nature of sin, of its immeasurable malice, which com- 
pels us to admit that there is a correspondence between its char- 
acter and its threatened doom. ' ' 3 

3. Buckley, Rev. James, Editor of the Christian Advocate, 
Methodist Episcopal, New York : 

' ' I believe that Jesus Christ was a teacher come from God, and 
though the doctrine of eternal punishment is indeed awful, I ac- 
cept it upon His authority; nor can I comprehend the mind of 
any one living upon earth that can take any other ground. It 
is not true that this belief fills the soul with unsupportable hor- 
ror, for not one innocent or penitent soul is condemned. Pun- 
ishment is the exclusive lot of those who have chosen death in sin 
rather than life in Christ. ' ' 4 

4. Cheever, Rev. George B., D.D. 

Referring to Canon Farrar, who advised the erasing from the 
English Bible the three obnoxious words, "damnation," "hell" 
and ' ' everlasting, ' ' he writes : ' ' Those are the most dangerous 
seducers who suggest to sinners that which tends to lessen their 
dread of sin and the fear of God. Doctrines that are not built 
upon Scripture foundation, though ever so pleasing, will but 
cheat men. ' ' 5 

5. Conrad, Rev. F. W., Editor of the Lutheran Observer, 
Philadelphia : 

"In the discussion of the doctrine of future punishment, we 
propose to consider it as it is presented in the Word of God. 
The mind cannot conceive, nor language express, more terrible 
descriptions of the doom of the impenitent than those contained 
in Holy Writ. In this essay we shall briefly treat of the awful 
character of that punishment, its eternal duration, and also of 
its justice, both confirmed by the testimony of conscience. Ac- 

2U. C, p. 95. s Defense, p. i, p. 41. * U. C, p. 171. 

s Defense, p. i, p. 99. 



Of Protestants on the Eternity of Hell 501 

cording, then, to divine authority, as revealed in the inspired 
Record, particularly in the New Testament, the abode of the lost 
is no house of correction or reform, or a place of disciplinary 
chastisement. We reject the theory of annihilation, or state of 
eternal unconsciousness, and hold, on the contrary, that the 
reprobates will be alive, conscious, and, in the highest degree, 
susceptible to suffering. The unending character of the inherit- 
ance of the saints, and the unending punishment of the lost are 
taught by every true interpretation of the Scripture." 6 

6. Crosby, Rev. Howard, D.D., L.L.D., Presbyterian, late 
Chancellor of New York University: 

"What we know of the condition of man after death, we know 
from an outside revelation. Appealing then to the written 
revelation, we ask: What does the Bible say concerning a fu- 
ture state? This is the sole question that we have to consider. 
According to the Bible there is an everlasting punishment for 
the wicked ; and this retribution will be the consequence or result 
of unf or given sin in the soul, subjecting it to perpetual tortures. 
Hence hell 's suffering is practically self-inflicted. ' ' T 

7. Cummings, Rev. Joseph, D.D., LL.D., Methodist Episcopal, 
President of Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois: 

"The life beyond the grave is by its nature unending. We 
fully subscribe to the doctrine of the Church in all ages, that in 
a future state the wicked shall be excluded from the presence of 
the Lord, and will forever suffer the penalty of sin. The true 
theory is that punishment is the inevitable sequence of one's 
own chosen conduct. The reward of God is unerringly in accord- 
ance with the deeds done in the body. 8 The now favorite theory 
that punishment is reformatory and preventive is proved false 
by most abundant evidence of Sacred Scripture. ' ' 9 

8. Cook, Rev. Joseph: 

"The current blazing discussion of future punishment is dis- 
tinguished by no new evidence, but by new disputants. The 
progress of democracy and of luxury in the world has brought 
to the front in theology a communistic, and an aristocratic party. 
The former is the patron of what I call Bohemian Theology, and 
the latter of the sofa theology. [Prominent in hotel parlors, 
where loafers rock themselves in comfortable cushioned armchairs 
and sometimes talk of hell's myth.] By as much as any man or 
woman is dear to me, by so much I should advise them to be shy 
of trusting their eternal future to a hope of repentance beyond 
the grave. It is historically incontrovertible that the overwhelm- 
ing majority of the most astute and learned, the most serious and 
saintly people, who have studied the Bible upon their knees, and 
have acted it out, have understood it to teach the endlessness of 
future punishment." 10 

e U. C., p. 189. 7 ibid., p. 209. s 2 Cor. v. 10. 9 U. C, p. 223. 
io Defense, p. i, p. 141. 



502 Affirmative and Negative Testimonies 

9. Dabney, Prof. R. C, in Union Theological Seminary, Vir- 
ginia : 

" To be sure, if hell can be disproved in any way that is solid, 
true, and consistent with God's honor and man's good, there is 
not a trembling sinner in this land that would hail the demon- 
stration with more joy than I would. Can any of you give that 
demonstration ? Let us hear what message the Lord Himself has 
been pleased to send us out of His Word. And when we look 
there, the most striking fact is that the clearest, the most dread- 
ful declarations of the eternity of the unbeliever 's ruin are those 
uttered by Jesus, who must have felt that hell is real. ' ' lx 

10. Helffestein, Rev. J., D.D. : 

"The doctrine of eternal punishment should be faithfully 
preached for the following chief reasons : 

"(a) For the simple fact that it is divinely revealed. God 
has annexed to His law that fearful penalty in order to throw 
around that law a suitable protection and to warn men of the 
consequences of transgression. It is not kindness but cruelty to 
keep men in ignorance of the divine retribution of crime. 

"(b) Ministers of the Gospel are under sacred obligation to 
declare the whole counsel of God — entrusted with the message of 
salvation or damnation, it is not only at the peril of their hearers, 
but at their own peril, that they withhold any portion of God's 
truth. 

"(c) The faithful preaching of this awful truth is required in 
order to keep alive the public conscience, and restrain men from 
sin; and these are the very motives for which God revealed it, 
and the prophets and apostle preached it." 12 

To the silent, timid preachers, referred to by the Rev. Helffe- 
stein, we may apply Virgil's saying: "The crisis requires no 
such aid, nor such defenders. ' ' 13 

And a far greater authority says of them: "Non hos elegit 
Dominus." — "The Lord chose not them." 14 

We are here reminded of the "dumb dogs not able to bark" 15 
the reproach addressed by the Lord to the Jewish pastors of old. 

11. Fulton, Rev. Justin D., D.D. : 

Taking Henry Ward Beecher to task for saying in one of his 
sermons that the Scriptural expressions referring to eternity 
simply mean long periods of time, Mr. Fulton writes : 

"The folly of such an utterance, to call it by no worse name, 
needs but a moment 's consideration to make it apparent. It is a 
sword that cuts both ways. If for ever means nothing regard- 
ing hell, it means no more when used in reference to heaven. 16 
It snaps the cable of hope, and compels the voyager to eternity 
to drift on an unexplored sea amidst storms and currents, with- 
out a chart and without a compass. It is the height of pride and 

ii Ibid., p. 1, p. 57. 12 Ibid., p. 1, p. 52. is Aen. 11. 521. 

i* Bar. iii. 27. 15 Is. lvi. 10. i« Matt. xxv. 46. 



Of Protestants on the Eternity of Hell 503 

sheer madness for any man to attempt to set aside and nullify 
the declarations of Almighty God on the eternal punishment of 
the wicked. ' ' 17 

12. Fowler, Rev. C. H., D.D., Bishop of the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church : 

"The doctrine concerning hell is fundamental in Methodist 
teaching, which is thus briefly summed up : After the general 
judgment, the righteous, with their risen bodies, are received 
into heaven, the final and eternal home of all the blessed; 
and the wicked, their souls and bodies being reunited, are cast 
into Gehenna or hell, into everlasting punishment. ' ' 18 

13. French, Uev. W. H., D.D., of United Presbyterian Church, 
Cincinnati, Ohio: 

"The picture of hell is not revolting to enlightened, uncor- 
rupted reason. Equity of the retributive principle is engraven 
in man's heart as well as written in God's word. 'Everlasting' 
undeniably means perpetuity, when applied to happiness, and as 
unequivocally so when applied to woe and sorrow. ' ' 

"Time is the seed-plot for eternity; 
Eternity the harvest-field of time. ' ' 19 

14. Gerhart, Rev. E. V., D.D., L.L.D. Professor in the Theo- 
logical Seminary, Reformed Church, Lancaster, Pa. : 

"Wrong-doers retain in the next life their false self-assertion 
and aversion to God. Therefore there cannot be a transition in 
the world to come from penal misery to beatitude. Neither re- 
wards nor punishments are arbitrarily or optionally bestowed by 
God. They are a consequence of divine justice and of the action 
of man's free will." 20 

15. Godet, Rev. Frederick, D.D., Professor in Theological Fac- 
ulty, Neuchatel, Switzerland : 

"We are all agreed on this point — that a future punishment 
awaits those who have wilfully broken the moral law, whether of 
conscience or of Sinai, and who have obstinately rejected the par- 
don offered to them by the preaching of the Gospel. If such a 
course of action did not end in punishment, the divine law would 
be without any sanction, and the most solemn declaration of the 
Scriptures would be of no effect. As to the character and dura- 
tion of punishment in the world to come, I know of three princi- 
pal solutions : 1. The Universalist solution, that punishment will 
issue sooner or later in conversion and salvation of all the con- 
demned. 2. The Conditionalist solution, which denies that the 
soul is essentially (naturally) immortal, and holds that the ob- 
stinately wicked perish out of existence, while believers receive 
eternal life as a gift of God. 3. The Eternalist solution, which 

17 Defense, p. i, p. 65. is U. C, p. 303. « Ibid., p. 325. 

20 ibid., p. 341. See Gal. vi. 7, 8. 



504 Affirmative and Negative Testimonies 

maintains an immortality of conscious suffering. Is, then, the 
idea of a punishment without end one in which we must rest? 
For my part I believe that this is indeed the impression under 
which the Scriptural declarations leave us, when taken in their 
simple and natural sense. And I am persuaded that such a 
revelation is adapted to our moral needs. ' ' 21 

687. 16. Goodwin, Rev. E. P., D.D.: 

"These are my answers to the following objections to the doc- 
trine of endless punishment : 

"A. Our opponents hold that the terms 'eternity,' 'everlast- 
ing,' 'for ever and ever' mean an eternal duration only when 
applied to the happiness of the blessed. This is not only vicious 
exegesis, it is a direct insult put upon the Author of the Divine 
Word and another upon Christ, to read in the same verse ever- 
lasting life, meaning unending blessedness, and everlasting pun- 
ishment, meaning retribution that ceases. (See n. 546.) 

"B. A second objection to the doctrine is based upon the 
probability, if not certainty, of a probation after death. The 
message which Christ was charged to deliver to men must cer- 
tainly have been perfect and complete, covering all the provisions 
made by Divine Providence for the salvation of men. We still 
have, thank God, that message in the preaching of Christ regis- 
tered in His Gospel. He never expressed a desire for the con- 
version of the lost after death. He never let fall a word which 
so much as hints at any such future probation. We find Him, 
on the contrary, always urging those who listened to Him to re- 
pent lest they should perish. 22 

"C. As to the objection drawn from the perpetual existence 
of evil, we answer that it cannot be shown that God cannot per- 
mit the existence of evil, a natural consequence of man's liberty. 
If then God can permit the beginning of evil, there is no reason 
why He may not allow its continuance. ' ' 23 

688. 17. Goulburn, Rev. Edward Meyrick, D.C.L., D.D., Dean 
of Norwich: 

Everlasting Punishment, Sermons Delivered at St. James' 
Church, Piccadilly, London, 1880 : 

Sermons First and Second: "Everlasting Punishment not 
Inconsistent with God's Justice." 24 

Sermon Third: "Everlasting Punishment not Inconsistent 
with God's Love." 25 

Sermon Fourth: "Everlasting Punishment not Inconsistent 
with God's Purpose in Creation." 26 

Appendix : ' ' On the limitations of the human understanding 
in apprehending God and His ways. ' ' 27 

We have attentively perused these sermons and feel perfectly 

2i U. C, p. 399. 22 John viii. 21. 23 Defense, p. i, p. 101 

24 Pp. 1-25. 25 p. 57. 26 p. 97. 27 p. 260. 



Of Protestants on the Eternity of Hell 505 

justified in stating that few authors have been found that sur- 
passed Mr. Goulburn in the defense of the orthodox doctrine of 
the eternal punishment awaiting unbelievers and impenitent sin- 
ners in the world to come. 

18. Harris, Rev. George, D.D., Professor of Christian Theology 
in the Theological Seminary of Andover, Mass. : 

" Future punishment is unending. The reprobates, who are 
cast out from God 's kingdom, are the incorrigible, the irreclaim- 
able, the hopelessly impenitent. ' ' 28 

19. Hendrix, Rev. E. R., Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South: 

"The doctrine of endless punishment has been substantially 
the uniform topic of Methodist preaching, because of the accept- 
ance of the doctrine as a matter of unquestioned revelation ; and 
on account of the rational grounds on which it commends itself 
to practical men. Any rejection of eternal punishment logically 
leads to the abandonment of the whole scheme of redemption. 
We reject the theory of a second probation as unscriptural, and 
therefore false and deceptive. The words of Christ on the final 
retribution of the impenitent are more terrible than all others." 29 

20. Holt, Rev. J. W., of the United Brethren in Christ. Edi- 
tor of the Religious Telescope, Dayton, Ohio: 

"The wicked who depart out of this life rejecting Christ and 
salvation, and unpardoned because unrepenting, will dwell in a 
place separate and apart from the righteous, and in this place 
of sin and torment they suffer everlasting punishment. Proba- 
tion ends with this life. ' ' 30 

21. Huntington, Rev. F. D., D.D., LL.D., Bishop of the Prot- 
estant Episcopal Diocese of Central New York : 

"Jesus will save every soul that consents to be saved. Irre- 
mediable loss to those who reject this offer. Any preacher who 
desires to preach a probation after death may hold himself justi- 
fied in undertaking it, if he can state and include the doctrine in 
words taken out of the Bible in their natural sense. The debate 
must be carried on where the battles of orthodoxy and heresy 
have always been fought, on the "Word of God. ' ' 31 

22. Jacobs, Rev. Henry E., D.D., Norton Professor of Sys- 
tematic Theology, Evangelical Lutheran Theological Seminary, 
Philadelphia, Pa. : 

"No ground for believing in another trial after death, or any 
termination of future penalty. No encouragement whatever can 
be afforded by any word of Scripture for any such doctrine as 
Universalism, Restorationism, Annihilationism, or Conditional 
Immortality. The state of remorse for unbelievers begins at 
once after death, to last forever. ' ' 32 

28 U. C. p. 427. 29 ibid., p. 443. so ibid., p 495. 

si Ibid., p. 509. 32 ibid., p. 545. 



506 Affirmative and Negative Testimonies 

23. Lewis, Rev. A. H., D.D. Seventh Day Baptist, Editor of 
the Outlook and Sabbath Quarterly, Plainfield, N. J.: 

44 We accept Christ's words: 'These [the wicked] shall go 
away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life 
everlasting. ' 33 

' 'All punishment is the resultant, the fruitage of man's inde- 
pendent volition, and is not the effect of divine retaliation. The 
messages of Christ are invariably addressed to man in this life, 
and never beyond. Forgiveness is always conditioned upon re- 
pentance and obedience, as required by justice." 34 

24. Long, Rev. Daniel A., D.D., LL.D., President of Antioch 
College, Yellow Springs, Ohio : 

" Christ never spoke of pardon hereafter. Man determines 
in this world what is to be his condition in the next. Men, who 
are without the Gospel, are yet amenable to God's law implanted 
in the heart. Disobedience to God's written law is worse than 
sinning against the light of Nature. Future punishment is not 
remedial, nor vindictive, but vindicatory and endless. The doc- 
trine of eternal retribution is not to be overthrown by false 
philosophies and theologies, for it is inwrought by God in human 
reason." 35 

25. Luthardt, Rev. Christopher E., D.D., Ph.D., University of 
Leipzig, Germany: 

"The language of Jesus Christ in Matthew xxv, 31, 41, 46, 
involves many propositions, among them these: 

"A. There is a final judgment for all men, with one only 
alternative, salvation or condemnation. 

"B. The consequences of this doom are eternal. Utterly 
vain are all attempts made to evade this awful fact by the 
doctrine of restoration, conditional immortality or soul annihi- 
lation. 

1 * C. The sentence of Christ is pronounced according to human 
conduct in the bodily life. ' ' 36 

26. McArthur, Rev. R. S., D.D., Pastor of Calvary Baptist 
Church, New York: 

"Future punishment is eternal. The term 'retribution' is 
especially and technically applied to the wicked. Universal be- 
lief of mankind that in the future life evil will be punished. All 
nations and religions partake of this belief. It is a law of moral 
gravitation and not an arbitrary enactment, that punishment 
follows wrong doing. The heathen, not knowing the Gospel, 
are judged by another standard. 

"God's Revelation is the all sufficient authority for believing 
that the doom of those who reject Christ is one of unutterable 
wretchedness and remorse, without end. 

"The Scriptures are no warrant for the doctrines of annihi- 

33 Matt. xxv. 46. 34 u. C, p. 587. 35 Ibid., p. 603. 36 ibid., p. 619. 



Of Protestants on the Eternity of Hell 507 

lation, a new probation, final restoration or universal salvation. 
We believe that the word of God plainly teaches that all trial 
ends in this life and that the punishment of the impenitent is 
everlasting. ' ' 37 

689. 27. Kent, Rev. Cephas, Ripton, Vt. : 

"The subject of my essay is Christ's words on the duration 
of future punishment. The question whether our Saviour taught 
the doctrine of eternal punishment is to be determined by appeal 
to His verbal utterances on the subject and to the general out- 
look of His instructions. If these do not help us to give us a 
clear, definite and unhesitating answer, it must remain in doubt 
till a new revelation is given. But leaving aside all discussion 
on the Hebrew and Greek nouns and adjectives signifying end- 
less duration, we find a very strong, irrefutable argument in 
favor of an eternal duration in the striking passage of Our 
Saviour's discourse, recorded in Mark's Gospel ix. 43-48 in- 
clusive, where the eternal duration of punishment is asserted, 
not by the words 'forever or 'everlasting,' but by denying that 
it will have an end. Setting forth the doom of the wicked, He 
thrice repeats His appeal to the 'unquenchable fire, where the 
worm dieth not and the fire is not extinguished! Let the 
quibblers about the meaning of the Greek and Hebrew words re- 
ferring to our subject refute the above-mentioned proof from 
Mark's Gospel, if they can. If those terms mean not an end- 
less, but a limited duration, how will they reconcile their inter- 
pretation with the plain import of the above text 1 " 38 

28. McCleod, Rev. Thomas B. : 

"Canon Farrar, in a letter to the Guardian, asserts that he 
especially repudiates Universalism as a dogma. How is this 
assertion to be reconciled with the following words preached in 
Westminster Abbey ? : 'Be sure that Christ 's plenteous redemp- 
tion must mean that earth's sinners — far off it may be — shall be 
transformed into God's saints.' Surely this is enough to satisfy 
the most hopeful Universalist ; hence Canon Farrar 's letter re- 
pudiating the dogma of the Universalists is a piece of sheer 
hypocrisy. The Canon holds out to sinners his individual 
promise of 'Eternal Hope'. We ask: Where can there be any 
hope for the soul which has resisted the tender love and earnest 
appeals of the Gospel — the warnings, entreaties, threatenings 
of Providence and grace in this life?" 39 

29. Nelson, Rev. Doctor: 

"I doubt whether any of my readers will be able to reconcile 
the following two statements of the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher : 

"A. 'I will never let go of the truth that the nature of God 
is to suffer for others rather than to make them suffer. ' 

"B. 'The relation between sin and retribution belongs not to 

37 Ibid., p. 641. ss Defense, p. 1, p. 132. 39 ibid., p ii, p. 87. 



508 Affirmative and Negative Testimonies 

the mere temporal condition of things; it inheres in the divine 
constitution and is for all eternity.' 

"The prospect for any man, who goes out of this life resolute 
in sin, may well make him tremble for himself, and may well 
make us tremble for him. 

"No one can object to the second (B) statement; but the diffi- 
cult point is to reconcile it with the first (A)." 40 

30. Patton, Kev. William W., D.D. : 

"One of the signs of the times in connection with religion is 
the tendency to substitute feeling for thought, and vague dreamy 
sentiment for careful reasoning. This applies particularly to 
the doctrine of the final perdition or damnation of the wicked, 
as held by the Christian Church of every age ; a doctrine either 
doubted or denied in our days. 

"Let us do more solid reasoning, and rely less on mere senti- 
ment in this matter of the perdition of ungodly men. We are 
only to be driven from our doctrinal position by cogent argu- 
ments based upon justice and reason. Universalism in this 
country, after denying the orthodox dogma of the eternity of fu- 
ture punishment, proceeded to reject the Godhead of Christ, the 
Trinity, the vicarious atonement and the entire Evangelical 
Scheme." 41 

31. Patton, Rev. Francis L., D.D. : 

This distinguished writer answers the following questions: 
"Is eternal punishment consistent with the infinite justice of 
God? Is it compatible with His infinite goodness? Is it in 
keeping with His designs in the creation of the world?" His 
three affirmative replies are solid, convincing and irrefutable. 42 

32. Pritchard, Rev. C. W., Minister in Friends' Church and 
editor of the Christian Worker, Chicago, 111. : 

"No human opinion, but the divine word alone is the source 
of truth concerning a future life. The consciousness shown to 
exist after death forbids the (Lutheran) idea of the soul sleep- 
ing or of annihilation. No foundation for doubting the fact of 
endless punishment. The theory of a further probation beyond 
the grave is both rationalistic and unscriptural. ' ' 43 

33. Porter, Rev. Noah, D.D., LL.D. : 

"I hold that there are reasons for holding that the doctrine 
of eternal punishment is not offensive to the moral sense, so as 
to require us to deny that Christ has taught it, or to affirm that, 
if He has, Christianity cannot come from God. When it is once 
admitted that God may, consistently with His attributes of jus- 
tice, wisdom, and holiness, permit sin, which He hates, and toler- 
ate the sinner that commits it, it cannot be said that He is morally 
bound not to create a being which, He foreknows, will persevere 
in sin even to the bitter end. 

40 Ibid., p. i, p 71. "Ibid., p. i, p. 76. 

42 Ibid., p. i, p. 78 43 u. C, p. 737. 



Of Protestants on the Eternity of Hell 509 

" Moreover, no man can blame Almighty God for giving man 
free will, a gift whose power He respects though sinners may 
abuse it. Now, what is hell but the inevitable result of the ill 
use of freedom by the commission of sin ? No other probation is 
to be expected in the life to come. ' ' 44 

690. 34. Reid, Rev. William, of United Presbyterian Church, 
Edinburgh, the author of "Everlasting Punishment and Mod- 
ern Speculation ' ' : 

The conservative Christian believers of Scotland, and, in fact, 
of Christendom at large, have reason to be thankful to this dis- 
tinguished author for his able production, which I was fortunate 
enough to secure through my old friend, Mr. Thomas Baker, 
the industrious London bookseller. 

In Rev. Reid's valuable work are presented and solidly de- 
fended the leading arguments in favor of the orthodox doctrine 
of hell 's interminable pains ; and the fallacies, both ancient and 
modern, devised against that dogma, are thoroughly sifted and 
triumphantly refuted. 

The following are the headings of the principal chapters : 

"I. The eternity of future punishment is taught expressly in 
the Bible. 

"II. The present life is our only probation. 

"III. Eternal punishment is the vindication and triumph of 
law. 

"IV. The eternity of future punishment is essential to the 
harmony of Christian doctrine." 

He then states the leading grounds on which answers to objec- 
tions are to be based : 

"I. Eternal punishment is consistent with divine goodness. 

"II. It is likewise in harmony with God's justice. 

"III. Future punishment is not intended to be disciplinary, 
corrective, or reformatory, but to be punitive and instrumental 
in the vindication of the moral order violated by sin. 

"IV. Future punishment is not disproportionate to the de- 
merit of sin. 

"V. Future punishment not annihilation. 

1 ' VI. Universalism not Scriptural. ' ' 

691. This author spoke so well on the orthodox side of the 
Christian dogma that we willingly forgive him for his utter mis- 
representation of the Catholic doctrine of purgatory. After say- 
ing that some theory better than purgatory might have been 
found, which would be more in accordance with Scripture repre- 
sentations, he puts forth his own doctrine thus: "The souls of 
believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and do im- 
mediately pass into glory." But, as to Scripture texts warrant- 
ing such a novel view the reverend author is ominously reticent, 
and this for the best of reasons, for both he and others have 

44 Defense, p. i, p. 35. 



510 Affirmative and Negative Testimonies 

looked in vain for Scriptural support of the gratuitous theory. 
Failing in this, he resorts to conjectures. After admitting that 
death sanctities no one, he adds : ' ' May we not conclude that in 
that hour the believer is favored with some special grace, a grace 
adequate at the time of need ? ' ' Here again we ask him : What 
testimony, Reverend Sir, have you at hand from your Bible to 
justify your conjecture? 

Of the Russian Czars, who refused to adopt the calendar cor- 
rected under the auspices of Pope Gregory XVI, it was said that 
they preferred to be at war with the stars rather than to agree 
with Rome. 

Of the Reformers and their disciples, the Protestant ministers, 
we may rightly say, that when speaking of purgatory, rather 
than to agree with the Roman Catholic Church, they prefer to 
disregard the teachings of the Bible as well as the principles of 
reason and common sense. 

35. Roe, Rev. E. P.: 

"That man is to be pitied whose best hope for the future is 
that there is no hell. How many are to be found in our midst 
eager to snatch at any straw of evidence leading to show to their 
anxious credulity that future retribution is but a bugbear of 
theologians ! 

"Hence the bold speculation in which deluded souls indulge, 
which asserts that somewhere, somehow, at some time, they will 
reascend again and recover what has been lost. For one I do not 
wish to take any such chances. The most severe and somber 
of the theologians will admit that the doctrine of eternal happi- 
ness is in the Bible as truly as that of endless punishment. ' ' 45 

36. Schultze, Rev. Augustus, President of the Moravian Theo- 
logical Seminary, Bethlehem, Pa. : 

"The punishment of the wicked will be everlasting exclusion 
from God's presence, together with utter misery and wretched- 
ness. The doctrine of the Moravian Episcopal Church has been 
thus briefly stated in the General Synod, convened at Herrnhut, 
Saxony, in the year 1879: 'In the Brethren's Unity it is for- 
bidden to teach either the doctrine of the final salvation of all 
men, or of the annihilation of the wicked. ' Physical death does 
not end conscious existence, but is a birth into a world of eternal 
realities. No second probation for those who have wilfully re- 
jected the offer of salvation tendered to them in the present life. 
The Cross of Christ is found to be a more powerful incentive to 
conversion and holiness than the fear of damnation. ' ' 46 

37. Smith, Rev. Joseph T., D.D., late Moderator of the Pres- 
byterian General Assembly, Baltimore, Md. : 

"On the day of judgment the wicked, both soul and body, 
will be banished from the presence of the Lord into everlasting 
misery. The Westminster Confession and Catechisms, our au- 

45 ibid., p. i, p. 110. 46 u. C, p. 778. 



Of Protestants on the Eternity of Hell 511 

thoritative accepted symbols, know nothing of annihilation for 
the wicked. Salvation, possible only in the present life and time, 
is the creed of the Church Universal. All souls, at death, enter 
upon a fixed and unchanging state of eternal happiness, or 
eternal misery. Hence no second probation warranted by God's 
word. The duration of the doom of the wicked is described by 
the same term as is applied to the blessedness of the righteous. ' ' 47 

38. Stewart, Rev. Moses, Professor in the Theological Semi- 
nary of Andover, Mass.: 

• ' A more fearful question cannot be raised by the human mind 
than by asking whether the punishment of the wicked in a fu- 
ture world is to be regarded as endless \ We find that in Holy 
Scripture, 48 the punishment is characterized by the same adjec- 
tive (everlasting) as the reward; and if life be endless in this 
case, then the punishment must also be endless. If not, the 
whole declaration has no intelligible meaning. I have heard of 
many persons being converted on a dying bed to a belief in fu- 
ture punishment who had all their life time maintained the con- 
trary doctrine ; never yet have I heard of one who in the like 
situation was converted from the common belief to that of thor- 
ough Universalism. God, the Supreme Governor of the uni- 
verse, possesses certainly the right to protect the moral order in 
the world, to enforce the observance of His laws, by immuring 
in His prison such of His rebel creatures as cannot be permitted 
to go at large without jeopardizing that order and interfering 
with and marring the harmony, peace, and happiness of the uni- 
verse, over which He rules. Is He not a competent judge of 
the evil and gravity of sin, and of what is necessary for the pro- 
motion of His glory, the furtherance of His benevolent designs, 
and the well-being of His faithful servants ? " 49 

692. 39. Talmage, Eev. T. De Witt, D.D., LL.D., Pastor of 
the Brooklyn, N. Y., Tabernacle, Presbyterian: 

In our opinion, his utterances deserve special attention. 

"I appeal not to human authority, or human opinion, but to 
that one Being who only can tell me whether there is a hell. 
That Being is God. My quotation then under this head will be 
from Christ, His only-begotten Son: 'Depart from Me, ye 
cursed, into everlasting fire. ' 50 But you say : ' Is not this 
figurative?' The Bible sixteen times says it is fire. You say: 
'I don't believe it, and I won't believe it.' Then be consistent 
and pitch your Bible into the stove. Paine was consistent in 
denying the doctrine of eternal punishment, for he rejected the 
whole Bible, although in his last moments he howled with so 
much terror that his nurse fled from the room. I have nothing 
much to do with objections against eternal punishment. I will 
simply state that God fifty-six times in the plainest, unmistak- 

47 Ibid., p. 805. 49 Defense, p. i, p. 115. 

4s Matt. xxv. 46. so Matt. xxv. 41. 



512 Affirmative and Negative Testimonies 

able, stupendous, and overwhelming way declares that there is 
a hell." 51 

[Tom Paine was not only an unbeliever but a scoffer and a 
blasphemer. Conscious at death of his criminal career, he cried 
out to be delivered from the awful guilt which he felt hung over 
his soul. But remorse instead of release was his portion, and in 
one final piercing shriek of commingled pain and dread he sur- 
rendered his soul to the Supreme Judge.] 

40. Taylor, Rev. William J. R., D.D., Pastor of Reformed 
Church, Newark, N. J. : 

"Eternal judgment and eternal punishment. There are but 
two places and states in the invisible world ; namely, heaven for 
believers and hell for unbelievers. According to the Bible, the 
source and authority relied upon for doctrinal light and truth, 
the scriptural death of the soul is the state of alienation from 
God. Future punishment is not remedial or reformatory ; hence 
there is no restoration from hell, nor annihilation of the wicked. 
Perdition is as real as salvation. ' ' 52 

41. Thwing, Rev. Charles F., D.D., of Plymouth Congrega- 
tional Church, Minneapolis, and editor of the Chicago Advance. 

The author, after refuting six false theories on final retribu- 
tion; namely, Agnosticism, death of the Soul or Materialism, 
Universalism, Restorationism after temporal sufferings, Annihi- 
lation of the impenitent, and the scheme of a second probation 
after death, approves the Christian dogma according to which 
at death the righteous are saved; the wicked condemned to 
eternal punishment. This doctrine is to be held as proved until 
stronger evidence in contradiction is presented. 53 

42. Tyler, Prof. W. S., D.D. : 

* ' The teaching of Christ 54 cannot but leave upon the mind of 
the unprejudiced reader the impression, deeper and stronger 
than almost any other, that there is no salvation, no help, no 
hope for those who reject or neglect Him who came to seek and 
to save that which was lost. After death there is an impassable 
gulf between the righteous and the wicked. 55 The resurrection 
is to life on the one hand, and to damnation on the other. The 
judgment is a finality, otherwise its whole description by Christ 
Himself is a solemn farce. The utter and irretrievable ruin is 
not the death of the body, or the annihilation of the soul, but 
conscious misery after death ; it is ceaseless, endless torments. 56 

43. Williams^ Rev. Meade C. : 

"The truth of the future, endless punishment of the repro- 
bates is distinctly taught in the New Testament by the preach- 
ing of John the Baptist, by the four evangelists, the Apostles 
Peter, Paul, and Jude and, above all, by the Lord Jesus, who 

si U. C, 867. •« Ibid., p. 881. 53 Ibid., p. 915. 

54 Matt. xxv. 41, 46: Mark ix. 42, 47. 

ss Luke xvi. 26. 56 Defense, p. i, p. 23. 



Of Protestants on the Eternity of Hell 513 

is pre-eminently the Revealer of this severe and awful truth. It 
is a telling fact that the greater part, and the most terrific part 
of the Bible 's communication of this truth is found in the words 
of the meek and tender Saviour. Both the fact of future pun- 
ishment and its eternity have been spoken by His lips. ' ' 57 

We add here, in the order of their lifetime, some additional 
testimonies of prominent non-Catholic writers and divines of an 
earlier date asserting the orthodox doctrine regarding the dura- 
tion of final retribution. They are all taken from the volume 
quoted above, namely, "The Unknown Country." We shall 
simply cite short sentences taken from their writings: 

44. Jeremy Taylor (a. d. 1613-1667) : 

"What comparison will there be between burning for a hun- 
dred years' space, and burning without interruption, as long as 
God is God?" 58 

45. Archbishop Tillotson (a. d. 1630-1694) : 
"Considering in what terms the threatening of the Gospel 

are expressed, we have all the reason in the world to believe that 
the punishment of sinners in another world will be everlast- 
ing. " 59 A difficulty proposed by this author, which is solved in 
Part IX (nn. 645, 646), proves his strange inconsistency. 

46. Archbishop Whately (a.d. 1787-1863): 

"On the whole, the Scriptures do not, I think, afford us any 
ground for expecting that those who shall be condemned at the 
last day as having wilfully rejected their Lord, will finally be 
delivered." 60 

CHAPTER IV 

ARGUMENTS OF PROTESTANT DIVINES AND OTHER 

NON-CATHOLIC WRITERS AGAINST ETERNAL 

PUNISHMENT ANALYZED AND REFUTED 

693. We are now about to examine and analyze the heterodox 
views of some Protestant divines on the all-important topic un- 
der discussion, the duration of retribution in the world to come. 
The arguments they allege in their support will be quoted and 
refuted ; by doing this we will dislodge them from their negative 
position and thus firmly establish the truth of our thesis. To 
these opponents, if yet among the living and to the deluded ad- 
vocates of their erroneous views, we recommend a serious reflec- 
tion on the following remark : 

Let our adversaries understand quite clearly what they are 
doing. They are not merely rejecting the teaching of the Uni- 
versal Church, of the whole of Christendom ; they are not merely 
repelling the most solemn declarations of all inspired writers, the 

57 Ibid., p. 112. ss u. C., p. 52. 59 Ibid., p. 52. eo Ibid., p. 53. 



514 Affirmative and Negative Testimonies 

prophets, apostles, and evangelists; but they are moreover re- 
pudiating the most precise, solemn, and emphatic assertions of 
Him, whom countless multitudes of the faithful revere and wor- 
ship as the Son of the eternal living God. If the theory of pri- 
vate judgment and free, individual interpretation of Holy Scrip- 
ture forces them to the sweeping denial of all the authorities wit- 
nessing to the truth of endless punishment, this fact alone is suffi- 
cient to brand it not only as unscriptural, but also as supremely 
unreasonable and absurd. Both men and their theories are 
known by their fruits — "Ex fructibus eorum cognoscetis eos." 
— "By their fruits you shall know them/' the infallible test given 
by the infallible Teacher, Christ. (Matt. vii. 16.) 

694. As I had occasion to notice in the preceding chapter, our 
main sources of information concerning the views, opinions, and 
tenets of Evangelical preachers and ministers of different Prot- 
estant denominations are two ; namely, ' * The Future Life, a De- 
fense of the Orthodox View, by Eminent American Scholars," 
and the volume entitled "That Unknown Country, or Future 
Retribution, according to the Opinions of Scholars and Divines 
of the Present Times." 

Our task will be to examine their erroneous views, and analyze 
the proofs, if any are alleged, by which they attempt to defend 
them. 

We dispose, first of all, of the three heterodox writers who con- 
tributed their essay to the book designated ' ' Defense. ' ' In this 
symposium, out of twenty-four writers, only three held the 
negative view on the future everlasting retribution. 

695. 1. Henry Ward Beecher : In a sermon that created quite 
a sensation, he tried to comfort poor sinners that might fail in 
this life by holding out to them the prospect of a second trial 
or probation in the next. He then draws a very hopeful con- 
clusion, saying: "Future punishment may be eternal, and yet 
not a single individual be eternally punished on account of refor- 
mation and change in the future life." As we have shown 
in Part IX such a theory bristles with absurd consequences and 
is, moreover, flatly contradicted by many passages of Holy Scrip- 
ture. Universalists and other opponents of everlasting hell 
frankly acknowledge that not a single passage can be cited either 
from the Old Testament or from the New which even hints at a 
continued or second probation after death. The following is the 
candid admission of an American writer, to which we had occa- 
sion to refer before: 

1 ' I have long searched with anxious solicitude for a text in the 
Bible which would even seem to favor the idea of a future pro- 
bation. I cannot find it. ' ' 1 

On the other hand, we need not detain the reader by a refuta- 
tion of Beecher 's arguments, for the simple reason that he does 

J See Oxenham, Catholic Eschatology, p. 145, note. 



Of Protestants on the Eternity of Hell 515 

not allege a single one. The ipse dixit has no value with sane 
American thinkers unless it be sustained by some serious 
proofs. 2 

696. 2. Whiton, Rev. James, wrote an essay entitled "The 
Teaching of Christ Respecting the Duration of Future Punish- 
ment. ' ' 

He says: "The claim to Christ's authority in favor of the 
doctrine that future punishment ends in extinction is at most a 
dubious claim." 

The arguments we adduce in this and the three preceding 
parts of our work dispose entirely of this dubious claim, and 
prove beyond the shadow of a doubt the endless duration of 
the infernal pains and of the reprobates enduring them whether 
demons or men. 

He then puts to himself the question: "Did Christ teach 
that future punishment is endless?" After quoting the class- 
ical texts of Mark ix. 42-17 and Matthew xxv. 41, 46, which em- 
body the clearest testimonies alleged by both Catholic and Prot- 
estant divines, he concludes : 

"The words of Christ yield, at most, the doctrine of an in- 
definitely continued future, but not of an endless punishment." 

Here we have private interpretation in full swing. If the 
clearest texts are susceptible of two mutually contradictory in- 
terpretations, then no testimony of Scripture, however plain, can 
be said to bear a specific meaning; and the Book containing 
God's written revelation becomes worse than useless. And yet 
our Protestant brethren take that very Book as the only safe 
guide to salvation. 3 

697. 3. Canon Farrar : This late divine was reckoned as one 
of the chief and ablest opponents of endless punishment. In his 
"Eternal Hope," 4 he says: 

"Where would be the popular teachings about hell, if we 
calmly and deliberately erased from our English Bible the three 
words 'damnation,' 'hell,' and 'everlasting'?" 

We answer: Those popular teachings, that is, the doctrine 
held by Christendom during the last nineteen hundred years, 
would be just where it was before, if Canon Farrar should do 
so foolish a thing. As well might a man ask where would be the 
law of gravitation, if he should jump off the top of the Wool- 
worth building in New York ? We should say the law would be 
where it was before. The most important question for the man 
to ask is not where the law of gravitation would be, but where 
he himself would be? But the reverend prelate forgets to ask 
himself another question. Are those three unwelcome words to 
be found only in the English Bible ? Are they not contained in 
hundreds, nay thousands, of other versions, and in countless 
manuscripts of the New Testament safely stored up in the 

2 Defense, p. i, p. 73. s Defense, p. i, p. 15. 4 Page 77 



516 Affirmative and Negative Testimonies 

archives of the learned world ? The Word of God endureth for- 
ever, for "heaven and earth," said Christ, "shall pass away, 
but My words shall not pass away. ' ' 5 

For the benefit of those reformers who, like old Martin Luther 
and the late Canon Farrar, feel inclined to tamper with Holy 
Writ and to expunge from here and there some — to them — ob- 
jectionable terms, we would recommend a serious reflection on 
these concluding words of the Apocalypse : "I testify to every 
one that heareth the words of the prophecy of this Book. If any 
man shall add to these things God shall add unto him the plagues 
written in this Book. And if any man shall take away from the 
words of the Book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part 
out of the Book of Life, and out of the Holy City." 6 

698. 4. Abbott, Rev. Lyman, D.D. : 

"Unending conscious sin and torment not a Bible doctrine." 

"Man is like all other animals, mortal. Immortality is con- 
ferred on man not by creation, but by redemption. ' ' 

The first assertion, supported by no proof of any kind, is con- 
tradicted by the general belief of all Christian nations and by 
hundreds of Scriptural texts which point out the fearful results 
of conscious sins for sinners. These Scriptural testimonies will 
suffice : 

"They [the wicked] have said, reasoning with themselves, but 
not right : no man hath been known to have returned from hell. ' ' 7 
' ' We have erred from the way of truth, and the light of justice 
hath not shined unto us. Such things as these the sinners said 
in hell." 8 

I am fully aware of the fact that our Protestant dissenters will 
discard the authority of the Book of Wisdom reckoned by them 
among the apocryphal — that is, uncanonical and therefore unin- 
spired — records of the Old Testament. To reject sacred books as 
non-authentic because the Jews excluded them from their 'canon, 
is an old heretical shift noted and refuted by St. Augustine. 
Speaking of this very Book of Wisdom the holy Doctor writes: 
' ' Who sees not that the canon of the Church of Christ is of more 
authority with all true Christians than that of the Jews? In 
fact, we have no other assurance that the books of Moses, the 
four Gospels and other sacred writings are the true word of 
God but by the Canon of the Church." 9 

(For an exhaustive treatment of this question see Bishop 
Mullen's work entitled "The Canon of the Old Testament.") 

To refute the second assertion, that man is no better than a 
quadruped, we do not need either the testimony of Scripture or 
the authority of Christendom ; reason alone suffices to prove the 
immortality of man, as has been shown and done in Part III of 
our work. 

5 Luke xxi. 33. 

6Apoc. xxii. 18, 19; Defense, p. i, pp. 89, 92; p. ii. p. 87. 

?"Wis. ii- 1. ' 8 Ibid., v. 6, 14. 9 Lib. de Praedestin. Sanctorum, c. xiv. 



Of Protestants on the Eternity of Hell 517 

As to the third assertion, that man's immortality is the work 
not of creation, but of redemption, we have only two short re- 
marks to make. In the first place we call to the reverend gentle- 
man's attention these words of Scripture, which have not the 
remotest reference to redemption: "God created man to His 
own image." "And the Lord breathed in his [Adam's] face 
the breath of life and man became a living soul." 10 

Immortality can be called the fruit or result of redemption 
only in the sense that, if man fulfils God's will, through the 
merits of Christ's redeeming blood, he will attain immortal, end- 
less happiness in God's kingdom. But if man rebels against 
God's will, breaks His commandments and dies impenitent, he 
will purchase to himself immortal misery, endless punishment in 
Satan's abode. (See nn. 560, 562.) 

As to our quotations from Scriptural books eliminated by Prot- 
estants to what we stated above we add : When Protestant Bib- 
lical scholars shall have given us plausible reasons why those so- 
called Apocrypha should be rejected as uninspired and unau- 
thentic, we shall refrain from citing them. 11 

5. Adams, Rev. John C, of Universalist Church, Chicago, 111. : 

"All punishment must be disciplinary and remedial." 

' ■ The good of the race is manifestly attainable by a terminable 
punishment. ' ' 

His first statement is disproved by all the Biblical texts which 
represent the present life as the period of probation and the fu- 
ture as the place of retribution. ( See nn. 531, 630, 632. ) 

We have already shown that to be a false principle which as- 
sumes that all punishment must aim at the reform of criminals. 
Human jurisprudence of all civilized nations condemns this prin- 
ciple as radically wrong. 

As to the second assertion, we simply remark that Almighty 
God's judgment as to what is best for mankind happens to differ 
from that of the Universalist divine. To deter man from sin, 
the cause of all human woes, present and future, and to secure 
his happiness here and hereafter, Divine Wisdom strengthened 
His law by both the remunerative and the punitive eternal sanc- 
tion. 

The Chicago parson thinks differently. The reader will de- 
cide for himself which is the better plan for the welfare of the 
race. 12 

699. 6. Baker, Rev. L. C, Presbyterian, Philadelphia, Pa. : 

' ' Man not inherently immortal, but a future life is secured for 
all through resurrection from the dead. ' ' 

Here the author evidently confounds the soul of man with his 
body. It is not the soul that rises from the dead, since it is 
naturally immortal, and therefore exempt from death. There- 
fore, resurrection, as described by St. Paul, 13 applies exclusively 

io Gen. i. 27; ii. 7. "■ U. C, p. G5. 12 ibid., p. 77. is 1 Cor. xv. 



518 Affirmative and Negative Testimonies 

to the body. The term ' ' resurrection ' ' can also be applied to the 
soul, but always and only in a spiritual allegorical sense. Hence 
St. Paul writes to the Colossians : "If you be risen with Christ, 
seek ye the things that are above. ' ' 14 And according to the 
Apostle, it is owing to the merits of the risen Christ that divine 
grace, and future happiness, its fruit, are granted to us. "Jesus 
Christ, our Lord, was delivered up for our sins, and rose again 
for our justification. ' ' 15 

' ' Endless torment not one of the alternative states announced 
by Christ." 

"We notice the absence of the doctrine of an endless hell from 
all the apostolic addresses, and from their subsequent epistles." 

Our Presbyterian divine could not ignore the striking text of 
St. Paul to the Thessalonians : "In a flame of fire giving ven- 
geance to them who know not God, and obey not the Gospel of 
our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall suffer eternal punishment, in 
destruction from the face of the Lord. ' ' 16 This was, of course, 
a somewhat embarrassing text; but our Biblical scholar, bring- 
ing to the rescue his peculiar exegesis which, if not honest, is at 
least ingenious, tells us that "here St. Paul speaks of eternal 
destruction to be vented on men living on earth and not on the 
dead." How men living on earth can "suffer eternal punish- 
ment," he did not think it necessary to explain. 

"A destruction of body and of soul awaits the sinner unless 
the soul be saved in Christ." 17 (See nn. 615, 618, 682.) 

In this brief sentence we find two glaring blunders, viz. : the 
theory of the annihilation of the impenitent, and that of volun- 
tary immortality through reconciliation with Christ. (See nn. 
550, 620.) 

7. De Pressense, Rev. E., D.D. : 

"The doctrine of eternal punishment is not conclusively de- 
rived from Scripture texts, for these, according to our interpre- 
tation, permit the hope of final restitution." 

Let our reader recall the overwhelming multitude of authori- 
ties that stand for the truth of eternal punishment as clearly 
established in Holy Writ, and then it will be easy for him to de- 
cide what to think of the opposite interpretation given by the 
Rev. De Pressense. 

"There are," he adds, "Bible implications of redemptive ac- 
tivity beyond the grave. ' ' 18 

Let our learned Biblical scholar bring a single text from the 
Bible to prove his contention, if he can. (See nn. 531, 630, 632.) 

8. Fowle, Rev. T. W., of Oxford, England: 

"Christ has not spoken at all of the eternally lost and the 
eternally saved. By His declaration of future life He was think- 
ing and speaking not of the future lot of human beings, but of 

i* Col. iii. 1. w Rom. iv. 24, 25. is 2 Thess. i. 8, 9. 

17 U. C, p. 133. is Ibid., p. 243. 



Of Protestants on the Eternity of Hell 519 

human beings under present mundane conditions. Hence the 
punishment is simply the exclusion of unbelievers from the 
blessedness of the Christian religion, and the reward is the 
realization, in all its fulness, of Christian life. ' ' 19 

The term "everlasting" applied by Christ, both to the reward 
of the just, and to the punishment of the wicked 20 is simply 
ignored by our English parson, for if introduced at all it would 
spoil his novel interpretation altogether. That the words of Our 
Saviour on the life to come should be perverted from their obvi- 
ous meaning can be understood well enough, but only the Rev. 
Mr. Fowle and men of his stamp can have the effrontery to state 
in a printed essay that Christ said nothing in His Gospel about 
the reprobates and the elect. 

It would be a waste of time to detain our reader with any 
further discussion with a man that reasons or rather unreasons 
in this fashion. We may say with Dante : 

' ' Speak not of them, but look and pass on. ' ' 21 

700. 9. Gladden, Rev. Washington, of Congregational Church, 
Columbus, Ohio: 

' ' Certain it is that great changes have taken place in the belief 
of the Church on future punishment during the last century." 
This assertion calls for an important, nay necessary, distinction. 
That any change has occurred in the belief and teaching of the 
Catholic Church in the last or any preceding century regarding 
future retribution, we emphatically deny. But that some radical 
change did take place among Protestant divines and their de- 
luded adherents as to the belief in eternal punishment, during 
the last forty or fifty years, is a fact which no one can ignore. 
St. Paul 22 graphically expresses the situation when, referring to 
the heretics of his own time, said of them that 'They are tossed 
to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine. ' " 23 

Here we are reminded of Bossuet 's pithy argument against all 
sectarians. "Truth is as unchangeable as He who revealed it. 
You change, therefore you do not possess the truth. ' ' Our Con- 
gregationalist then insinuates that death does not close the oppor- 
tunity of a second trial ; though, he adds, this additional offer of 
grace may be spurned. To confute this somewhat modern theory 
we have but to appeal to the many testimonies of Holy Scripture 
showing that this life is, in God's designs, the appropriate and 
exclusive period of probation. In them we are bidden to work 
out our salvation, while it is yet day, 24 to remember that time is 
short, to pass our time of earthly sojourning in fear, 25 etc. Now, 
unless we are prepared to resolve these solemn utterances of the 
apostles and of Him who sent them into the empty verbiage of 
modern fashionable preachers, we must attach to those words the 
meaning, which they obviously convey, and firmly believe that 

is Ibid., p. 285. 20 Matt. xxv. 46. 21 Inferno iii. 1-5. 

22 TJ. C, 381. 23Eph. iv. 14. 24 John ix. 4. 251 p e ter i. 17. 



520 Affirmative and Negative Testimonies 

the period of mercy, grace, and probation is limited to the pres- 
ent life. (Seenn. 489, 633.) 

701. 10. Hale, Rev. Edward E., Unitarian minister of Boston, 
Mass. : 

"I reject the error of the Augustinian theory that the earth is 
for man a scene of prescribed moral trial. ' ' 26 

It is a question here not of any theory, whether Augustinian, 
Thomistic or any other, but of a stern truth, explicitly taught in 
divine revelation, confirmed by the dictates of reason, and sanc- 
tioned by the general consent of mankind. Time is for eternity, 
the present life is but a preparation for the next. 

He then boldly states: "An assumed judicial process of 
man's examination after death is a degrading injury to the 
morals of mankind. ' ' 

First of all, the fact that every individual of the human race 
that attains the use of reason is to undergo before the Lord a 
scrutiny of his whole responsible life is no assumption, but a re- 
vealed truth pervading the contents of Holy Scripture, asserted 
in the monuments of tradition, and testified even by Gentile na- 
tions. As St. Paul informs us : " It is appointed unto men once 
to die, and after this the judgment." 27 

Moreover, only a perverted use of his mental faculties could 
have led the reverend gentleman to utter an ethical blunder, such 
as this, which is opposed to the jurisprudence of every human 
code, based on the responsibility of man for his free actions. It 
is precisely the consciousness of the account to be rendered to the 
Supreme Judge that deters men from evil-doing, and greatly 
contributes to elevate, purify, refine, and perfect the morals of 
mankind. 

11. Hopkins, Rev. John H., S.T.D., of Burlington, Vt. : 

After stating the orthodox Christian doctrine concerning the 
eternal happiness of the righteous and the eternal damnation of 
the wicked he says : ' ' This statement fairly represents the com- 
mon opinion of church people from the earliest ages until now, all 
the world over.'' So far so good. "But," he adds, "the 
Church Universal has never in any General Council defined this 
view of the question as being a matter of faith. ' ' Here the rev- 
erend divine commits a historical error, utterly unpardonable 
in one who is supposed to be a master in Israel. The Fourth 
Lateran Council, the Twelfth Ecumenical, held in the year 1215, 
defines that ' ' all men will rise to be punished or rewarded accord- 
ing to their works, either evil or good; the former will incur a 
perpetual punishment with the devil, the latter will obtain ever- 
lasting glory with Christ. ' ' 28 Supposing that, consistently with 
his opposition to Rome, he disregards the decisions of her coun- 
cils and the definitions of her Pontiffs, can he deny this startling 
fact, that, as we have shown, all Protestant churches, down to 

26 U. C, p. 413. 2?Heb. ix. 27. 28 D. Enchiridion, p. 189. 



Of Protestants on the Eternity of Hell 521 

the Evangelical Alliance of 1846, have admitted in their conven- 
tions the doctrine of eternal future retribution? And can he 
ignore the fact that this identical doctrine is believed and pro- 
fessed by the schismatical Eastern Church ? 

Then, endorsing the milder view devised by Origen, he tells 
us that "it has been held and taught from the earliest ages and 
never condemned." Church History tells us that this so-called 
milder view has been anathematized by Popes and Councils, and 
that its chief advocate, Origen, was condemned as a heretic by 
Pope Vigilius in the year 540, and by the Second Council of Con- 
stantinople, the Fifth Ecumenical, in the year 553. Owing, 
then, to the preceding utterances of the Church of God and other 
official condemnations by Popes and Councils of the milder view, 
the conclusion of the Rev. J. H. Hopkins "that there is full lib- 
erty among us for the private interpretation of such passages of 
Holy Writ as bear upon the lot of the righteous and that of the 
wicked," must be rejected as altogether untenable. Only out- 
side the fold of the Catholic Church, in the reign of chaos, such 
aberrations are possible. 29 

12. Isaacs, Rev. Abram, Editor of the Jewish Messenger, 
New York : 

"There is punishment for the evil-doer in this world and in 
the next; but the divine purpose is to reclaim, not to destroy, 
or doom to everlasting torment. ' ' 30 

We fully accept this pronouncement of the learned Rabbi, as 
it perfectly agrees with the Catholic doctrine, which teaches 
that God destined all men to perfect happiness and furnishes to 
them the means necessary to attain it. Hence, only such indi- 
viduals as will throw away their chances of salvation will miss 
their destiny and incur the fate of the reprobates. 

"The doctrine of everlasting punishment was never part and 
parcel of Judaism." 

This statement, besides being flatly contradicted by the sev- 
eral testimonies alleged above from the Old Testament, has been 
triumphantly refuted by Msgr. Freppel in two lectures delivered 
before the French Academy in Paris, February 28 and March 
7, 1873. In them, by appropriate quotations from the Book of 
Job and other passages of the Old Testament, and from the Jew- 
ish historian Josephus and modern writers, he proves against 
the Academicians Derenbourg and Renan the constant belief of 
the Jewish people in the immortality of the soul and in the ever- 
lasting rewards and punishments of future life. 31 (See n. 269.) 

"Old-time Universalism spans the Bible with the rainbow of 
universal salvation." 

The only remark we have to make on this somewhat poetical 
effusion of the learned Rabbi is that it bears the ugly stigma of 

29 U. C, p. 477. so ibid., p. 527. 

3i See Vigouroux, La Bible et les Decouverts Modernes, vol. 1. 



522 Affirmative and Negative Testimonies 

Origenism anathematized by the Catholic Church and officially 
rejected also by all Protestant denominations. 32 

13. Miner, Eev. A. A., Universalist Church, Boston, Mass. : 

"No divine revelation, rightly interpreted, affords any evi- 
dence of the continuance of sin, and its retribution in the resur- 
rection. ' ' 33 

What a bright prospect is held by this surpliced advocate of 
Universalism to the members of his flock and to all poor sinners 
at large ! According to him, we possess indeed a clear revelation 
of the eternal joys of paradise, as our earthly tabernacle, when 
dissolved, is to be succeeded by a heavenly one. Neither are 
their anticipations of the forthcoming bliss to be disturbed by 
the fear of a contrary fate, for as he assures us, "The progress 
of Biblical exegesis, in the increasing light of our time, scarcely 
finds more acceptable evidence of future retribution in the New 
Testament than is contained in the Old." 

The reader that has perused the pages of the four preceding 
parts knows what to think of such gratuitous, erroneous asser- 
tions of this New England sage. 

702. 14. Moomaw, Rev. Elder, B. C, of the German Baptist 
Church, Buena Vista, Va. : 

"The great preponderance of Scriptural testimony points to 
an extermination, certain destruction, a blotting out of the finally 
impenitent and ungodly, as though they had not been. ' ' 34 

Here we have the theory of annihilation of the wicked pure and 
simple. To prove his thesis from Scripture our German Baptist 
alleges from the Apocalypse a text that proves exactly the oppo- 
site. He says, "For them [the finally impenitent] remains that 
lake of fire, the second death, which was prepared for the devil 
and his angels. ' ' 35 Then he adds : ' ' Nothing could be more 
terrible than those familiar symbols of annihilation." 

Here we have two remarks to make. In the first place, as 
the wicked would welcome total extinction as a great boon, neither 
they nor we can see anything terrible in it. Secondly, there is 
another text in the Apocalypse which our Elder cannot ignore, 
but which he simply overlooked : "In those days man shall seek 
death, and shall not find it; and they shall desire to die, and 
death shall fly from them. ' ' 36 

"The second death destroys both body and soul." 

In a former passage of his essay he tells us that the impenitent 
are exterminated, and then states that for these same extermi- 
nated impenitent sinners is allotted a lake of fire. That his in- 
terpretation of the meaning of "second death" is utterly arbi- 
trary and entirely erroneous appears from the following words 
of Apocalypse: "And hell and death were cast into the pool of 
fire. This is the second death." 37 The words "hell" and 

32 See Th. Martin, La Vie Future, c. ii. 33 TJ. C, p. 693. 

s* Ibid., p. 947. 35 Apoc xx. 14. 36 ibid., ix. 6. 37 ibid., xx. 14. 



Of Protestants on the Eternity of Bell 523 



< i 



death, ' ' as authorized interpreters tell us, are a personification 
of the devil and the wicked, who are to be thrust into the dungeon 
of hell. Hence, the first death is incurred by the sinner in his 
lifetime by the loss of sanctifying grace, which is the spiritual 
life of the soul. The second death is eternal damnation of both 
soul and body. This is so true that of the just, who have pre- 
served the life of grace and died the friends of God, the same 
inspired writer says: "In these the second death hath no 
power. ' ' 38 

Extinction would indeed be a most welcome fate to the demons 
and the wicked, and whilst we know that they very ardently de- 
sire it, we are assured at the same time from the Book of Apoca- 
lypse quoted above that they are doomed to the most bitter dis- 
appointment. 

As to the words "destruction," "perishing," "perdition" and 
the like, we have seen in Part IX that they cannot be interpreted 
as equivalent to annihilation. Hence the whole structure built 
by our German Baptist on the weakening foundation of these 
terms topples over and falls to the ground. (See n. 682.) 

15. Peabody, Rev. A. P., Professor at Harvard University, 
Cambridge, Mass. : 

"A righteous retribution in the world to come, but no literal 
eternity or torment for any created being. ' ' 39 

This is quite a bold assertion, which the university professor 
would find it not only difficult, but impossible, to prove; yet he 
gives us at least one reason or argument by saying that "the 
punishment will last as long as sin lasts." This proof of his 
has been very unfortunately chosen, for it cuts the ground from 
under his own feet, and can be easily retorted against him. 
Hell will last as long as sin lasts ; agreed. But as there can be 
neither available sorrow, nor repentance beyond the grave, the 
impenitent carry their sin to the judgment seat, and can no more 
expel it from their soul than they can end their own existence. 
St. Mark in his Gospel, referring precisely to those that die im- 
penitent, refusing the grace of reconciliation with their Maker 
to the bitter end, says of them that "they shall be guilty of an 
everlasting sin." 40 The punishment then will last as long as 
the sin will last, that is, everlastingly. 

703. 16. Stokes, Prof. George Gabriel, President of the 
Royal Society, and Professor of Mathematics, Cambridge, Eng- 
land: 

"The scientific and moral arguments concerning a future life 
are supplemented by the teachings of revelation. ' ' 41 

The contrary is the correct view, for the complete knowledge 
of future life can be obtained only from God's own revelation; 

38 Ibid., xx. 6. See Scripturae Saerae Cursus Completus — Migne. vol. 
xxv, p. 1417. Elucidatio in Apocolypsim, auctore Martino Wouters. 

39 U. C, p. 712. 40 Mark iii. 29. 4i U. C, p. 823. 



524 Affirmative and Negative Testimonies 

a knowledge not exactly supplemented, but only confirmed by 
philosophical and ethical arguments. 

Contrary to his view, the Scriptures teach both that man has 
a spiritual nature, and that his soul is naturally immortal, for 
the Creator made it so. See proof of the soul's immortality from 
Holy Scripture in Part III, where we also show that what revela- 
tion teaches, reason confirms. 

Immortality was made possible through redemption." 

Man's immortality, as we have just seen, is the work of crea- 
tion. Redemption, by applying the merits of Christ to man's 
immortal soul, renders it worthy of heavenly glory — a glory re- 
served also to the body at the resurrection. 

"The intermediate state between death and resurrection may 
be regarded as a state of unconsciousness. ' ' 

This old heresy is revived by Luther and was condemned by 
Pope Benedict XII, a. d. 1336, and the General Council of Flor- 
ence, the Seventeenth Ecumenical, under Pope Eugenius IV, 
a. d. 1438. Both authorities define: First, that the souls of 
the just, if entirely purified, are at once admitted to the beatific 
vision. Secondly, that the soul that departs from this life 
stained with actual or personal mortal sin, is immediately con- 
demned to hell. 42 

17. Summerbell, Rev. N. D. D., of the Christian Church: 

This reverend preacher of the so-called Christian Church gives 
us a sermon or an essay bristling with unwarranted assump- 
tions and groundless assertions. With him it is a foregone con- 
clusion that all the "wicked, after judgment, will utterly perish 
and sin will thus be brought to an end." After stating that 
no Scriptural text intimates endless life in hell, he gives what 
he designates as the four foundations for faith in the endless 
life of the lost. These are 

1. The worm that dieth not. 

2. The fire that is not quenched. 

3. The endless torments. 

4. Everlasting punishment. 

None of which, he writes, explicitly states the doctrine. These 
reckless denials call for no refutation at our hand, for they re- 
fute themselves. 43 

704. 18. Swing, Rev. David I., Pastor of the Independent 
Church, Chicago: 

' ' There exists no revealed doctrine about the nature of future 
punishment as to its quality, degree, or duration; and no re- 
vealed doctrine as to who will be called upon to endure it. ' ' 44 

It will not be difficult for our readers to dispose of this sweep- 
ing denial, an unmitigated falsehood, if they only glance at the 
formidable array of Scriptural testimonies alleged in Parts VI 
and VII from both Testaments, bearing unmistakable evidence 

42 D. Enchiridion, pp. 216, 217, 236. «{J. C, p. 833. 44 ibid., p. 849. 



Of Protestants on the Eternity of Hell 525 

to the existence, quality, degree, and duration of the infernal 
pains. As to the second part of his statement, "who will be 
condemned to that punishment, ' ' we freely admit that there ex- 
ists no revelation determining which special individuals may be 
said to be among the reprobates, with the solitary exception of 
him whom Christ designated as the "son of perdition." But 
this much has been clearly revealed, that endless punishment 
shall be the lot of the wicked, the impenitent — of all, in short, 
who depart from this world enemies of God, with the canker of 
mortal sin in their souls. Two testimonies will suffice : ' ' Know 
you this, and understand that no fornicator, or unclean, or 
covetous person (which is a serving of idols) hath inheritance 
in the kingdom of Christ and of God." 45 "But the unbelieving, 
and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and 
sorcerers, and idolators, and all liars, they shall have their por- 
tion in the pool burning with fire, and brimstone, which is the 
second death. ' ' 46 We agree with the Rev. Swing that ' ' God, who 
gave man his free volition, will not resort to force and compel 
the depraved nature to repent and love holiness." But then, 
since hell is abolished, we ask him, how shall those depraved in- 
dividuals be brought to repentance, and eventually to heaven? 
This will be done, he answers, "in a second life, when those souls 
will pass from the present existence into a richer evidence of 
God, and climb rapidly above that low moral valley in which 
they dwell here. ' ' This arrangement suits his theory admirably ; 
but will he find from Genesis to the Apocalypse any Scriptural 
warrant for this second probation in the world to come? (See 
nn. 182-489.) 

705. 19. Thomas, Rev. H. W., Pastor of the People's Church, 
Chicago, 111. : 

"The doctrine of endless punishment is not taught in the 
Scriptures, nor in the early Creeds, but is a heresy. ' ' 47 

It would be interesting to know how it happens that what the 
whole of Christendom believed and held for the last nineteen cen- 
turies must now be altogether abandoned as heretical. The Rev. 
Thomas answers: "Old beliefs, in the progress of thought and 
knowledge, are being modified and improved." As the old be- 
liefs are nothing else but divinely revealed truths, we are at a 
loss to understand how divine truth, which is as immutable as 
God Himself, could ever be transformed, changed, or modified 
by any progress of learning at all. There can be no more change 
in God's revelation than there can be in Euclid's theorems of 
mathematics. But can progress; higher criticism; free, indi- 
vidual interpretation of God's word destroy the fact of the dis- 
tinct revelation contained in Holy Scripture of the Christian 
dogma of endless punishment for the wicked, or can those novel 
unscriptural theories blot out the creeds of Christendom, pro- 
as Eph. v. 5. 46 Apoc. xxi. 8. 47 u. C, p. 897. 



526 Affirmative and Negative Testimonies 

claiming the terrific truth of everlasting woe to all the impeni- 
tent, past, present, and future ? 

"Had Jesus Christ intended to teach endless punishment, 
there were Greek words in abundance that would have placed 
the subject beyond doubt, but He did not use them." 

Here the reverend pastor confounds two things which should 
be carefully distinguished; namely, the language used by our 
Divine Saviour in His public life and the language in which 
the several parts of the New Testament were written. Though 
Christ had a perfect knowledge of all languages, yet He made 
use of the language then most common in Palestine, and that was 
not the Greek, but the Aramaic tongue, also called Syro-Chaldaic. 
As to the Books of the New Testament, they were all written in 
Greek, the most widespread language of those times, with the 
exception of the Gospel of St. Matthew, which he wrote in the 
language of his own people ; that is, in Hebrew, or rather Syro- 
Chaldaic, though his Gospel also was soon translated into Greek, 
it is said, by St. Matthew himself. 

As we have shown in Part VII, the words of the Greek text 
of Matthew '& xxv. 46, express precisely what our Saviour meant ; 
namely, the endless duration of the punishment of the repro- 
bates. (See n. 485.) 

"In the end, however, existence will prove a blessing and not 
a curse to all souls. ' ' 

Existence will prove a curse, not indeed to all souls, but only 
to those to which Christ's fearful sentence can be applied: "It 
were better for him, if that man had not been born. ' ' 48 

The Rev. Thomas also asserts that "the doctrine of endless 
punishment is not taught in the early creeds." 

To remedy his evident deficiency in Church History, we quote 
here some of the earliest Christian Creeds containing the very 
profession of faith in the existence of eternal life for the just 
and eternal punishment for the wicked, which he says is missing. 

1. The Formula of Faith approved by Pope St. Damasus (a. d. 
380 ). 49 

2. The Athanasian Creed, also called the Quicumque, from its 
initial word, which reproduces the belief of the primitive Church 
in the following clear terms : 

"At the coming of Christ, all men shall rise with their own 
bodies, and shall render an account of their own deeds ; and those 
who did good things shall go into eternal life ; but they who did 
evil things shall go into eternal fire. ' ' 50 

From the preceding statements it is easy for our readers to 
ascertain on what side truth is to be found. 

706. 20. "White, Rev. Edward, of the Congregational Union, 
England : 51 

48 Matt. xxvi. 24. so ibid., p. 19. 

49 D. Enchiridion, p. 14. si See n. (560). 



Of Protestants on the Eternity of Hell 527 

"The doctrine of conditional immortality and of the eternal 
destruction of the wicked, is what I should teach. ' ' 52 

To state this so-called doctrine of conditional, or voluntary, 
immortality is to refute it. In fact, what does it assume? It 
takes for granted that the immortality of man 's soul is the work, 
not of creation, but of redemption, a theory already disproved. 
Another assumption, entirely destitute of proof, is the eternal 
destruction or annihilation of the wicked. 

As reason, revelation, and the traditional sense of mankind 
prove the immortality of the human soul, as demonstrated by the 
numberless works that fill the libraries of the civilized world, the 
contrary assertion of the Rev. Edward White falls to the ground 
as an unwarrantable assumption unworthy of any man that re- 
spects himself. 

"Natural immortality is denied by the Scriptures, both im- 
plicitly and expressly." 

See Part III, ch. v. vi, vii for contrary Scriptural evidence. 
None of the numerous texts he alleges can be shown to prove the 
destruction of the wicked. (See also nn. 615, 618, 682.) 

The compiler of "That Unknown Country" gives us, in copi- 
ous summaries, the view of several Biblical scholars, mostly Ger- 
mans, on the question we are treating. As they are all opposed 
to the orthodox Christian doctrine, we deem it advisable to dis- 
cuss briefly the reasons they allege in behalf of their opinion, 
especially because some of them pose as the founders of new theo- 
logical schools, as opposed to the traditional dogma of the eternity 
of the punitive sanction. 

707. 21. Schleiermacher, Friedrich (a.d. 1768-1834): 

He and other Lutheran theologians "are inclined to the idea 
that an opportunity of hearing the Gospel will be granted, be- 
yond the bounds of this life." He then concludes thus: 
"Therefore we may, at least with equal right, admit the milder 
view, of which there are traces in the Scriptures, 53 viz., that, by 
the power of redemption some day there shall result a universal 
restitution of all human souls. ' ' 54 

In the first place, we see here a sweeping rejection of the 
Seventeenth Article of the Augsburg Confession, the Creed of the 
Evangelical Lutheran Church: "Christ shall appear to, judge, 
and shall raise up all the dead, and shall give unto the godly and 
elect eternal life and everlasting joys; but ungodly men and 
the devils shall he condemn unto endless torments. ' ' 55 

The theory of a second probation need not detain us here, as 
it has been amply refuted in several pages of this work. His 
Scriptural quotations afford no countenance to his theory of uni- 
versal salvation, for the first text, "For He [Christ] must reign 
until He hath put all His enemies under His feet, ' ' 56 refers to 

52 TJ. C, p. 929. 53 l Cor. xv. 25, 55. 54 Works, vol. iv, p. 503. 

55 Schaff, Creeds of Christendom, vol. iii, pp. 17, 18. 56 l Cor. xv. 25, 



528 Affirmative and Negative Testimonies 

the final triumph of Jesus Christ at the last judgment when His 
enemies will be publicly confounded and condemned to the ever- 
lasting punishment they deserved. 

Our exegetical scholar is more unfortunate still in his citation 
of the second text, "O death, where is thy victory? death, 
where is thy sting?" 57 The great majority of interpreters ex- 
plain this passage as referring to the victory of Christ over 
death by His own resurrection and the resurrection of all men, 
particularly of the just at the last judgment ; a most glorious vic- 
tory over one of the chief consequences of original sin, men's 
death, and the ignominious corruption of their bodies in the 
grave. 

The learned professor found it necessary to justify his depar- 
ture from the Christian doctrine on future retribution by some 
kind of reason, and we give it here in his own words: 

"If we consider eternal damnation in connection with eternal 
happiness, it is easy to see that the latter can no longer exist if 
the former (damnation) exists, for sympathy with the damned 
must necessarily disturb the happiness of the saved." 58 

That the blessed will know and fully realize the condition and 
sufferings of the reprobates we fully admit, as such a belief is 
based on Holy Scripture, 59 held by the Church, and taught by 
theologians, particularly by St. Thomas. They teach that the 
saints in the heavenly kingdom will certainly behold the 
pains of the lost, and will rejoice, not on account of the pains 
themselves, which the reprobates suffer, but because they see in 
them the vindication of divine justice, the reparation of the vio- 
lated order and are thereby reminded of their own preservation 
from such a punishment. 

All this is quite true ; but we emphatically deny what our oppo- 
nent asserts, that this contemplation mars or disturbs their hap- 
piness. For proofs of this statement see Part IV, ch. iv, where 
we speak of the heavenly happiness enjoyed by the soul. 60 

708. 22. Rothe, Richard (a. d. 1799-1867): 

He is mentioned among the eminent German theologians who 
adhere to the theory of the eventual extinction of the wicked. 
This, as he tells us, "is the fate to be allotted to those who per- 
sist to the last day in their resistance of the Spirit — of those who 
are guilty of the unpardonable sin. To such is reserved, as a 
punishment, the annihilation of soul as well as body." 

This error has been fully refuted in several passages of our 
work, to which the reader is referred. But we cannot omit notic- 
ing one of his statements, which is in direct contradiction to his 
annihilation scheme. Commenting on the striking passage of 
Matthew xxv. 41, 46, he writes : "Of the wicked is only said that 
during the continuance of their stay in Gehenna, their pain will 

57 Ibid., xv. 55. 58 u. C, p. 56. s» Ps. lvii. 11. 

so See St. Thomas, Suppl., p. iii, q. xciv, art. 1, 2, 3. 



Of Protestants on the Eternity of Hell 529 

not cease, without any determination of the question whether that 
stay will, or will not be endless/' By quoting verse 46 of that 
chapter, the German savant cuts the ground from under his feet 
and prepares his own confutation. In fact, our Blessed Lord 
says in the sentence against the wicked: "And these shall go 
into everlasting punishment." It is a question here, then, not 
simply of an everlasting fire, but of an everlasting punishment. 
Now how could a punishment be said to be everlasting unless 
those that are punished should also be everlasting? 

Moreover, the contradiction lies in this, that, if, in his sup- 
position, the wicked ever cease to be tormented, they will be de- 
livered from hell and eventually saved. What need, then, will 
there be for annihilation? 

He also gives as a reason for the extinction plan the supposed 
"necessary disturbance of the happiness of the redeemed" — a 
futile, not to say silly, argument refuted above. 

709. 23. Alger, William R., Author of "Critical History of 
the Doctrine of a Future Life," Philadelphia, 1864. 

At present we direct our remarks, in the first place, to Mr. 
Alger's rejection of the Scriptural evidence derived from the 
New Testament, and particularly from the words of Christ Him- 
self. To refute him we have only to call attention to the flippant 
tone of his language. After urging the common Universalist 
sophistry that "everlasting" need not mean "lasting forever," 
he strives to trace the doctrine of endless punishment to the 
erroneous traditions of ancient nations: 

"Orientals, Greeks, and Jews, who had derived their belief 
from fallible sources, also maintained the doctrine of eternal 
punishment, and it is reasonable to suppose that similar language 
was employed by the Saviour and the Evangelists. Accordingly, 
if Our Lord did mean what He said, we regard it not as a part 
of the inspired utterances of Jesus, but as an error, which crept 
in among others from the surrounding nations of a benighted 
pagan age. ' ' 61 

Our readers will not expect me to undertake the confutation of 
a man who denies the divinity of Christ by making Him a teacher 
of doctrines borrowed from benighted paganism, and rejects the 
inspiration of the Scriptures. 

Moreover, he admits that the final reprobation of the wicked 
is certainly taught by St. Paul, St. John, by St. Peter in his 
Second Epistle, by St. Jude, and by St. John the Evangelist in 
the Apocalypse. But he thinks, of course, that they are all mis- 
taken, and he believes that such is the fact because he says so. 
After such views of this haughty unbeliever we are not surprised 
to find other similar blunders in his pages. Thus, for instance, 
he tells us that theologians prove the eternity of hell's punish- 
ment from the fact that the wicked confirmed in malice will be 

6i Op. cit., pp. 525, 526. 



530 Affirmative and Negative Testimonies 

sinning for all eternity, and, on this account, they will be etern- 
ally punished. 

710. The Catholic Church holds herself responsible only and 
exclusively for her own teaching, which is diametrically opposed 
to that of Mr. Alger. Her doctrine is that after the present life 
neither the blessed in heaven can merit greater essential glory, 
nor can the reprobates in hell merit greater essential punishment 
on account of their sins. 

I advisedly use the term "essential," for, as to accidental in- 
crease of happiness in the blessed and of accidental suffering in 
the reprobates before the last judgment, some Catholic theolo- 
gians, St. Thomas among them, hold that, as, owing to the perse- 
vering influence of the good deeds and works of the just, their 
glory in heaven will accidentally increase; so, by reason of the 
persevering evil influence of the misdeeds of the wicked, such as 
their irreligious or immoral writings, their sufferings will acci- 
dentally increase in hell. But no increase of happiness for the 
blessed, nor of pain for the reprobates, will occur after the last 
judgment. Therefore it is not true that hell is eternal because 
the damned will eternally sin. 62 

711. As seen above, according to this historian of the doctrine 
of the future life, all that is found in the New Testament regard- 
ing future punishment as taught by the living lips of Christ and 
written by His apostles and disciples is altogether erroneous be- 
cause not divinely inspired, but borrowed in its entirety from 
benighted pagan nations. A sweeping assertion like this, imply- 
ing the rejection of the whole New Testament as uninspired, 
should be sustained by some kind of proof. The writer is 
naturally expected to trace the several statements concerning the 
eternal pains of the reprobates to the benighted pagan nations, 
from which Christ and His apostles appropriated them. But 
the reader will look in vain through that bulky infidel produc- 
tion for a thread of proof of the many gratuitous assumptions 
with which it bristles from beginning to end. 

To fully convince the reader of the absolute untrustworthi- 
ness of Alger's pretentious book we add a few more proofs to 
those already cited. 

On page 141 he writes : ' ' The sole passage in the Old Testa- 
ment teaching the resurrection is in the so-called Book of Daniel. ' ' 
The equipment of this would-be Biblical scholar must be very 
meager indeed, since he ignores the fact that several other 
passages witnessing to that dogma are to be found in the Old 
Testament, such as the classical text of Job xix. 25 ; the striking 
description of the resurrection in Ezechiel xxxvii. 1-10; and 
numerous other passages, particularly in 2 Machabees vii. 9 and 
14. The last two testimonies, though the books are rejected by 
Protestants, we quote for the reasons mentioned above. (See nn. 
248,698.) 

62 See St. Thomas, Suppl., p. iii, xcviii, art. 6. 



Of Protestants on the Eternity of Hell 531 

On page 397 he represents St. Augustine as holding Calvin's 
horrible creed, the predestination of a large portion of mankind 
to absolute reprobation independently of any foreseen demerit on 
their part. These are his words: "Augustine declared that a 
few were arbitrarily elected to salvation from eternity, and that 
Christ died only for them." But our learned historian does 
not tell us in what book and chapter that holy Doctor taught 
such false heretical doctrine. And if Mr. Alger has already 
gone to his account, we challenge any of his adherents to find 
those words in the writings of St. Augustine. 

On page 409, somewhat annoyed at the roll of blessed and 
saints venerated by Catholics, he disposes of them all as pious 
frauds, by asserting that the Roman Catholic canonization of 
martyrs and saints was the same as the pagan apotheosis of the 
most depraved heroes of antiquity. 

On page 429 he coolly asserts that the following doctrine has 
been publicly defended in every age of the Christian Church: 
"The Universalist formula — every soul created by God shall 
sooner or later be saved from sin and woe, and inherit everlast- 
ing happiness." This statement is absolutely untrue. This 
Universalist theory was condemned as a heresy by the Christian 
Church at Constantinople under Pope Vigilius in the year 543, 
that is, 1375 years ago, and the condemnation has been repeat- 
edly confirmed. Will Mr. Alger or any of his disciples quote for 
us the name of any authorized Christian Synod or Council that 
has sanctioned and approved the doctrine of Universalism from 
the time of its inception down to our own days? 

Many more similar preposterous assertions are spread through- 
out Alger's volume. The specimens already given justify us in 
applying Virgil's motto: " Ab uno disce omnes." — "From the 
examples quoted judge of the rest." But more will be said in 
our Bibliographical Appendix, particularly about the historical 
part of his criticisms. 

712. 24. Sherman, Henry Burton, Ph. D., Instructor in New 
Testament History and Literature, University of Chicago, au- 
thor of "The Teaching of Jesus About the Future." Chicago, 
1909. 

We have in him an advocate of the heterodox, heretical, nega- 
tive theory of future retribution which he strives to uphold in a 
pretentious volume of 390 pages. How successful he has been 
in his task the reader will be able to tell from some few passages, 
which show how reckless and inconsistent he is in his assertions 
throughout his book. 

A. Thus, on page 265, he writes: "Apparently the evidence 
requires that it be held that Jesus Himself never referred to 
torment or fire as the form of future fate for the unrighteous. ' ' 
The learned instructor could not ignore the fact that our Blessed 
Saviour spoke at least fifteen times of the fire as a future punish- 



532 Affirmative and Negative Testimonies 

ment, particularly in the passages reproduced by St. Mark 63 and 
by St. Matthew. 6 * Hence he felt it his duty to assign some 
reason to account for his departure from the doctrine of whole 
Christendom on that point. 

"It seems," he says, on page 295, "that it is to others, not to 
Jesus that we must trace these apparent accretions in the Gos- 
pels, where the future is conceived under the form of fire and 
torment." As for the proof of his unwarranted assumption, he 
thought that a university instructor is not obliged to descend to 
such details. But whether Biblical scholars will accept his ipse 
dixit as a sufficient proof is quite another matter. 

We find a palpable contradiction between two of his state- 
ments. On page 266 he writes: "The term 'gates of Hades ' 
does not refer to the future abode of the righteous or un- 
righteous." And on page 296 he says: "The place of abode 
after death for both sinners and righteous ones is Hades." 

B. His comment on the parable of the rich man and Lazarus 
is somewhat amazing. On page 296, quoting from St. Luke's 
Gospel 65 he thought it advisable to follow the Protestant versions 
of 1611 and 1881, and shorten the text, hence he writes: "And 
the rich man also died and was buried." He then explains his 
omission of the Evangelist's words "in hell" by saying: "At 
death the unrighteous are simply buried." 

Everybody knows that the principal sin for which the voluptu- 
ous Dives was condemned was his utter want of charity toward 
the poor, represented and personified by the famished Lazarus, 
lying at his gate. But on page 297, Mr. Sherman, entirely over- 
looking this phase of the parable, takes occasion to impeach the 
Lord's justice in His dealings with the rich and with the poor, 
and discriminating against the former in favor of the latter by 
remarking that "he cannot help expressing his surprise at the 
fact that, because a man is rich now, he should not deserve fe- 
licity in the future, and because, he is poor now, he should de- 
serve bliss in the age to come." 

C. One of the strongest warnings ever uttered by Christ be- 
fore His hearers is that registered in St. Luke 's Gospel : ' ' And I 
say to you, My friends, Be not afraid of them who kill the body, 
and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show 
you whom you shall fear; fear ye Him, who after He hath 
killed, hath power to cast into hell. Yea, I say to you, fear 
Him. ' ' 66 How does the university instructor handle this ter- 
rific text? Yery cleverly, indeed. In the first place, according 
to him, those words were exclusively intended for the apostles. 
We reply that we fully admit that Christ 's apostles and disciples 
were present at His sermon, but that they alone heard it we 
emphatically deny. In fact, two verses above the text here 

63 Mark ix. 42-47. 64 Matt. xxv. 41. «5 Luke xvi. 22. 

66 Luke xi. 4, 5. 



Of Protestants on the Eternity of Hell 533 

spoken of, the Evangelist tells us that "Great multitudes stood 
about Him, so that they trod one upon another. ' ' 67 

Moreover, according to his supposition that the warning con- 
tained in the text here referred to was directed only to His 
apostles, he thus interprets it: "Christ simply meant to cau- 
tion them against precipitation of action and imprudent freedom 
of speech, which might cause them to be denounced to the civil 
authorities. As to the words, ' ' After He had killed hath power 
to cast into hell," all interpreters refer them to Almighty God, 
the Master of life and death and Supreme Judge of mankind. 
But our professor differs entirely from them and tells us that 
the individual spoken of in that text is the high priest of the 
Jewish synagogue, to whom he attributes the power of inflicting 
capital punishment, another egregious blunder, for, as we read 
in St. John's Gospel, "The Jews therefore said to him [Pilate] 
it is not lawful for us to put any one to death." 68 

713. On page 258, continuing to expound St. Luke's text 
(xii. 5), the university professor writes: "It is a question here 
of the official commitment of the criminal to the opprobrium of 
desecration, through assignment of the body after death to the 
valley of Hinnom, the Gehenna of the Gospel, the depository of 
the offal of Jerusalem, and of the carcasses of animals." This 
prerogative of assigning to the said valley is regarded as lodged 
in the hands of one man, him who had authority to cast into 
Gehenna, the high priest. 

Hence, under the pen of this Biblical scholar, God, the Su- 
preme Judge, is replaced by the Jewish high priest, and the 
eternal punishment of hell's fire is reduced to the burning of the 
body of the dead criminal in the valley of Hinnom, a logical se- 
quence of Higher Criticism exegesis. Comment is needless. 

D. On page 259, alluding to the Saviour's condemnation of 
adultery, 69 and to the sin of scandal to be punished by fire, 70 
our New Testament instructor deals more leniently with such 
criminals. In his view Jesus meant that as to adulterers, only 
their body is to suffer the "consequences" of their "criminal 
deed, ' ' and this only in the present life. ' ' The penalty of adul- 
tery is the inevitable ultimate degeneracy and ruin of the body 
through indulgence." (P. 259.) Let the reader compare this 
assertion with 1 Cor. vi. 9 and Apoc. xxi. 8 ; xxii. 15, and he will 
know what to think of the exegesis of the Chicago professor. 
Now, how will he reconcile this dictum with the principle that 
the soul is the guilty party, as the body is simply the instru- 
ment of iniquitous doings? Hence the soul must be the chief 
sufferer. 

When, therefore, adulterers die impenitent, their bodies, con- 
signed to the grave, undergo no pain, at least till the final resur- 

•7 Ibid., xii. 1. es John xviii. 31. 69 Matt. xix. 9. 

70 Matt. xiii. 41, 42; Mark ix. 41, 47. 



534 Affirmative and Negative Testimonies 

rection at the general judgment. But the soul will suffer at once 
the penalty of its adulterous crime in hell 's fire. 

714. Here is the Catholic doctrine, denned by Pope Benedict 
XII (a.d. 1336): 

' ' The souls of those who die in actual mortal sin, immediately 
after death descend into hell, where they are tormented by the 
infernal pains." 71 "Do not err," says St. Paul, "neither 
fornicators nor adulterers, nor the effeminate . . . shall possess 
the kingdom of God. ' ' 72 

The examples we have adduced are more than sufficient to show 
that Mr. Sherman, instead of being an honest instructor in the 
New Testament history, has acted throughout his book as a down- 
right perverter of that Sacred Record. Hence we recommend 
to his serious attention the following concluding words of the 
last Book of the New Testament: "If any man shall take away 
from the words of the Book of this prophecy, God shall take 
away his part out of the Book of Life. ' ' 73 



CHAPTER V 

HELL ABOLISHED IN WASHINGTON, D. C, BY THE 
BIBLE STUDENTS AND THEIR FORMER PRESI- 
DENT, THE LATE PASTOR RUSSELL 

715. The People's Pulpit, a monthly sheet (price one cent) 
formerly edited by the late Pastor Russell, of whom we 
shall shortly speak, announced in big headlines this startling 
event: "Hell has been unanimously repudiated and officially 
abolished at Washington, D. C, July 7, 1912." Who, we won- 
dered, had accomplished this mighty task? Congress in a com- 
mittee of the whole, or the Supreme Court of the United States ? 
No, for neither our federal legislators, nor our federal supreme 
judges have so stultified themselves. The great feat was 
achieved by the assembly of more than three thousand Bible 
students, delegates gathered from all over the United States 
and Canada in solemn convention assembled in the fed- 
eral capital, July 7, 1917. Hence, according to this official 
pronouncement, all sinners, from that date on for the future, 
may rest at ease, for a big iron lid was placed over the 
mouth of hell ; and to show that theirs was not a mere ceremony, 
but an official transaction, they purposely selected the capital 
of the nation as the scene and witness of their heroic, philan- 
thropic work, intended to remove from men's troubled con- 
science that heavy incubus of punishment to come. But let us 
reproduce the resolution, approved, without a dissenting voice, 
by those learned Biblical students. The chairman, Mr. Ruther- 

7i Enchiridion, p. 217. 72 i Cor. vi. 9, 10. 73 Apoe. xxii. 19. 



Of Protestants on the Eternity of Hell 535 

ford, in announcing it to the convention, said: "This is a hot 
subject for a hot day.'' 

"We now unanimously repudiate as thoroughly unscriptural 
the teaching of a place, state, or condition of a literal lake of 
fire and brimstone for the torment of the wicked; and further, 
we believe from many personal testimonials that the vast ma- 
jority of ministers of all Protestant denominations have pri- 
vately repudiated the hell-fire theory; but have, for supposedly 
good reasons, hesitated fully to inform their congregations ; and 
further, we believe, on this account, thousands and perhaps tens 
of thousands, are being driven into skepticism or infidelity. ' ' 

To these three thousand Bible students who voted for the 
abolition of hell we oppose the countless millions of staunch 
believers in the doctrine of eternal punishment — a doctrine held 
and professed by the whole of Christendom during the last nine- 
teen hundred years. Now in Congress and in every legislative 
body of this land, majorities rule; we may, then, easily antici- 
pate the verdict of the American people on the vote of the Bible 
students in Washington, D. C. 

716. As we learn from the transactions, the Washington Con- 
vention was anxious that all Protestant ministers should make 
a public declaration of their attitude toward this question, on the 
ground that it would tend to lessen skepticism and infidelity. 
Hence copies of the resolution were mailed to all Christian minis- 
ters, accompanied by a request for an expression of their opinion 
on the subject at issue. A report of their replies was soon pub- 
lished, from which it appears that the Bible students ' resolution, 
rejecting hell's fire and hell itself, was fully endorsed by repre- 
sentatives of the following Protestant denominations : 

1. The English Anglican Church. 

2. All the ministers of Worcester, Mass. 

3. The Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians. 

4. The Congregationalists, the Episcopal Church. 

To give support to the encouraging endorsement of Protestant 
ministers, the editor of the Journal gives utterance to a bare- 
faced falsehood by asserting that the Catholic Church was non- 
committal on that topic, or did not dare openly to tell the truth. 
The answer given by the late Rev. David Phelan, former Editor 
of the Western Watchman, is sufficient to confute the calum- 
nious report. He referred the inquirer to the "Catholic Ency- 
clopedia," which, he said, contained the whole Catholic doctrine 
on the subject discussed. 

Exit Pastor Russell. 

717. We learned from the press that in September, 1916, he 
was overtaken by a sudden death on the train from Los Angeles 
to Kansas City, Mo. We need not dwell on his somewhat check- 
ered career. 

I came across an estimate of this prolific preacher by an old 



536 Affirmative and Negative Testimonies 

married couple, and I might as well give it here in their simple, 
popular style : 

"Pastor Russell," said the husband, /'knows what he is talk- 
ing about ; he studied the Bible all his life. He says : hell is all 
bosh, a bogey foisted off by the theologians of the Dark Ages 
on a lot of gullible peasants. He holds that there is no such 
place as hell, and no eternal punishment mentioned in the Bible. 
All that the Bible means is that all men will sleep at death in the 
tomb till judgment day, when Christ will call them forth and 
bring them all to heaven. Of course, my wife, a priest-ridden 
Catholic, does not believe in this Pastor Russell at all; she calls 
him an unctuous old mountebank, a thoroughgoing impostor and 
humbug preacher." 

Holy Scripture tells us of the departed that ' ' their works will 
follow them. ' ' x Whether this self-appointed Pastor 's doings 
during the last forty-five years of preaching, and writing against 
several points of Christ's Gospel and the universal doctrine of 
Christendom on the existence and everlasting duration of hell 
have been for him a passport to heaven, it is not difficult to 
decide. One thing is sure, he knows now, wherever he be, more 
about the true meaning of the Bible than he ever knew before. 

CHAPTER VI 

PRESENT ATTITUDE OF MANY PROTESTANT AND 

OTHER NON-CATHOLIC DIVINES AND 

PREACHERS TOWARD FUTURE, 

ENDLESS RETRIBUTION 

718. It would certainly be rash on my part to assert on my 
individual authority that the majority of non- Catholic ministers 
and preachers of our times either do not themselves believe in 
eternal punishment or, if they believe in it, they have not the 
courage to preach it. Hence I thought it incumbent on me to 
sustain such charge by authorities that cannot be suspected of 
undue bias or prejudice. They are for this reason all culled 
from the Protestant field, and as the passages are duly quoted, 
inquisitive readers may easily verify them, if the works from 
which they are extracted happen to be within their reach. 

1. Talmage, Rev. T. De Witt, D.D., Presbyterian Pastor of 
the Brooklyn Tabernacle: 

"Out of a hundred of our sermons ninety-eight are on the 
love of God, the mercy of God, on the kindness of God ; and if we 
preach two sermons out of the one hundred in regard to the in- 
dignation of God against sin and His warnings of the future 
punishment, we are styled sulphuric. Our American preaching 

i Apoc. xiv. 13. 



Of Protestants on the Eternity of Bell 537 

needs to be reconstructed as to the doctrine of God's indigna- 
tion." 1 

2. Tyler, Prof. W. S., D.D. 

Referring to the Christian ministers who for some reason or 
other refrain from bringing up in the pulpit the subject of hell, 
he says: 

"The anxiety of some to relieve distressed souls is praise- 
worthy. But are they more tender and loving than Christ? 
Are they wiser than He? Has He not repeatedly spoken of 
that awful abyss? For ourselves the only question is: What 
did the heavenly Teacher preach? The saying of the master — 
ipse dixit — was the end of all controversy in the schools of the 
old Greek philosophers. Shall it not be so, a fortiori, for a 
greater reason in the school of the Divine Master, Christ ? " 2 

3. Williams, Rev. Meade C. : 

"It would seem that in modern times comparatively little use 
has been found in our pulpits for the teachings of the Scripture 
concerning the destiny of those who sin against God and reject 
His salvation. Unbelievers have noticed this, our neglect, and 
have made much of it. Our liberal Christians, in their conven- 
tions, have been charging for years that we were afraid to de- 
clare it, and in their ridicule of the doctrine they have likened it 
to the old discarded belief in witches, and to the fossil remains 
of animal monstrosities of an extinct age. 

" As to myself I often think of the telling fact that the greater 
part and the more terrific part of the New Testament communi- 
cations of this truth is found in the words of the meek and 
tender Saviour. Yes, Jesus Christ is pre-eminently the Re- 
vealer, not only of future punishment, but also of its eternity. ' ' 3 

4. Helffenstein, Rev. J., D.D.: 

Speaking of the preachers that refrain from declaring the 
whole Counsel of God, he writes : 

"What immense responsibility must rest upon their ministry! 
Entrusted as they are with a message of life and death, salvation 
or damnation, it is not only at the peril of their hearers, but at 
their own peril that they withhold any portion of God 's truth. ' ' 4 

5. The statement of the Bible students embodied in their 
resolution regarding the abolition of hell. (See nn. 715, 716.) 

"We believe from many personal testimonials that the vast 
majority of ministers of all Protestant denominations have pri- 
vately repudiated the hell fire theory, but have, for supposedly 
good reasons, hesitated fully to inform their congregations." 

719. In the North American Review for June, 1900, there 
appeared what we might call a sensational article entitled "What 
has become of Hell?" by the Rev. George Wolfe Shinn, D.D. 
Though it contains some very sensible thoughts and reflections on 

ill. C, 874, 875. 2 Defense, p. i, p. 34. 3 Defense, p. i, p. 112. 

* Apoc. xxii. 19; Defense, p. i, p. 52. 



538 Affirmative and Negative Testimonies 

that awful subject, yet we must say, it is openly unjust to the 
Catholic Church and her ministers. The author states that hell 
is now tabooed generally ; and then, reckoning Catholic bishops 
and priests among other so-called ministers of the Gospel, and 
condemning them all in a lump, says of them : "We do not hear 
of hell in the pulpit, nor see any reference to it in modern theo- 
logical books." Then he adds: "We are simply trying to 
establish the fact that there is (in Christian tradition) an un- 
broken chain of testimony to the belief in the existence of hell 
down to comparatively recent time. Now, almost suddenly, cer- 
tainly with remarkable unanimity, men have well-nigh ceased to 
talk about it." 

But is it true that this chain of testimony has been broken — 
that there has been in this regard a very notable change in 
theology at the close of the nineteenth century? We answer 
these questions with a distinction. Outside the pale of the 
Catholic Church, among the upholders of the theory of private 
judgment and the disciples of the recent so-called Higher Criti- 
cism, we freely admit. But within the Catholic Church, among 
all the believers in her infallible authority, we emphatically 
deny. And we challenge the Rev. Dr. G. W. Shinn and all his 
disciples to allege a single instance of any Catholic writer, of any 
authorized theological work, containing any doubt or denial of 
the existence and eternity of hell. 

But perhaps the Catholic Church, with her two hundred and 
ninety millions of members, is an inappreciable quantity in the 
estimate of that learned divine. Whatever may be his opinion, 
it remains true that the doctrine of the Catholic Church is 
identical with that professed by St. Polycarp (a. d. 156), quoted 
by himself, who said to the proconsul who was about to sentence 
him to death by fire : ' ' With fire, which burns for an hour or so 
and is extinguished, thou dost threaten me; but dost thou not 
know of the fire of the future judgment, and of the eternal pun- 
ishment reserved for the ungodly ? ' ' 

720. Hence the sweeping assertion of Rev. Mr. Shinn, regard- 
ing the tabooing of hell's punishment by the Christian pulpit, is 
misleading, as he completely ignores the fact that the Catholic 
Church and her ministers never failed to proclaim to the faith- 
ful the terrible, stern, but real fact that the world's Redeemer 
announced in the clearest language the existence of endless pun- 
ishment for the impenitent in the world to come. No one needs 
be surprised at the constant, uncompromising, and consistent 
attitude of the Catholic Church regarding the proclamation of 
this truth. As the Oratorian Father H. S. Bowden very perti- 
nently observes in his preface to Hettinger's "Revealed Re- 
ligion": "The Catholic Church cannot modify any of her doc- 
trines, say that of eternal punishment, or tamper with any 



Of Protestants on the Eternity of Hell 539 

dogma that has been divinely revealed, even though by so doing 
she would win half the world to her fold. Her mission is to 
convert the nations to the truth, not to adapt the truth to them ; 
and every attempt to depart from this line of conduct must be 
fatal to the cause of truth and to the souls which she is to save 
from perdition. ' ' 

721. When we reflect that the doctrine of hell and its eternal 
duration is explicitly contained in divine revelation and consti- 
tutes the very cornerstone of Christianity, we fully agree with 
the Rev. George Wolfe Shinn that it is an unpardonable of- 
fense on the part of Protestant ministers of the Gospel and other 
non-Catholic teachers of religion to waver and hesitate in de- 
claring this truth, or so to veil and obscure it as to empty it of 
its full moral weight and import. In the face of the momentous 
interests at stake, such proceedings are not charity, but cruelty 
and unfaithfulness. For if indeed so terrible a doom awaits 
the final impenitent, the surest guarantee for escaping it here- 
after is not to forget it now. "Let them go down alive into 
hell. ' ' 5 Let them think of hell while living, lest they should 
fall into it when dead, as St. Bernard comments on those words 
of the Psalmist. If the doctrine of eternal punishment be a re- 
vealed dogma, as it is proved by all conservative Christian 
writers, it is treason to God and treachery to man to withhold 
or disguise it or tamper with it by keeping the faithful in 
ignorance of what Almighty God has explicitly revealed. 

722. Evangelical preachers and writers, who, though believ- 
ing in the Christian dogma of endless retribution, yet lack the 
courage to proclaim it to their flocks; or, intimidated by the in- 
fluential portion of their congregation, fear to incur their dis- 
pleasure, ought to bear in mind the following warnings of Holy 
Scripture : 

' ' You have strengthened the hands of the wicked that he should 
not return from his evil ways and live. ' ' 6 

"It is a people that provoketh to wrath, and lying children, 
children that will not hear the law of God. Who say to the 
seers: speak unto us pleasant things, see errors for us. " 7 

723. From our analysis in the two last chapters we found that 
of the notable ministers and writers of different Protestant de- 
nominations, forty-six hold the orthodox Catholic doctrine on 
eternal punishment and twenty-one are opposed to it. Here we 
must call to the reader's attention this striking fact that, while 
the forty-six conservative divines invariably assign valid reasons 
for their orthodox belief, the twenty-one recalcitrant ministers, 
on the contrary, allege in support of their view such flimsy and 
weak arguments as may be compared to paper wads fired against 
a dreadnought. For this reason we found it easy to refute them. 

s Ps. liv, 16. 6 Ezech. xiii. 22. t Isaias xxx. 9, 10. 



540 Affirmative and Negative Testimonies 

They are nearly all supporters of such theories as future proba- 
tion, restorationism, Universalism, or annihilationism. But in 
the course of my investigations of their unscriptural and anti- 
christian views, I could not help noticing this startling fact, that 
they scarcely ever take into account the attribute of God's jus- 
tice, the enormous offenses committed against Him, and the neces- 
sary reparation due to Him. Now, not only Catholic theologians, 
but also the conservative Protestant divines themselves adduce 
in their writings those very arguments to justify infliction of 
endless punishment. Of course our adversaries expatiate on the 
infinity of divine love and the far-reaching benefits of redemp- 
tion, without, however, laying much stress on the necessity im- 
posed by the Lord of observing His Holy Law and of fulfilling 
the condition required for profiting by the work of redemption. 
Such a condition is clearly pointed out by St. Paul in his Epistle 
to the Hebrews: ''And being consummated, He [the Son of 
God] became to all that obey Him, the cause of eternal salva- 
tion." 8 
s Heb. v. 9. 



PAET XI 

RETROSPECT AND BIBLIOGRAPHY 

CHAPTER I 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 

Travelers who in their journeys are wont to write a diary or 
itinerary in which they record, day by day, the leading incidents 
they have encountered, when they reach the end of their excur- 
sions and are again safe at home, doubtless take considerable 
pleasure in recalling past experiences as they run over their 
note-book and dwell with special interest on the recollection of 
the principal events and scenes they have met with. 

724. Having now come to the termination of my five years' 
literary journey — I began my work on Future Life in 1913, — for 
my own satisfaction, quite legitimate, I hope, and for the bene- 
fit of readers anxious to see the logical connection of the suc- 
cessive parts and chapters in my book, like a traveler that goes 
over his itinerary — I intend to take a retrospective view of the 
various questions treated in my humble production. The prin- 
cipal advantage that may be derived from this brief summary 
or epilogue will be to realize once more the fact that Catholic 
doctrines are consistent throughout, and so logically connected 
with one another as to constitute one compact, harmonious whole, 
such as must appeal to the intelligence of every fair-minded 
thinker and convince him of the fact that a result like this bears 
undoubted evidence of the truth which Catholic teaching con- 
tains, for truth alone can be consistent, coherent, and harmonious 
throughout. 

After stating in the Preface the principal motive that finally 
induced me, in spite of misgivings, to inflict on the public another 
lucubration on a subject highly distasteful to many people, I 
courageously plunged into my undertaking. 

I take in the Introduction a general bird's-eye view of the ques- 
tions to be dealt with, and allege the chief reasons why a book 
of this kind, which should interest every human individual 
anxious to save his immortal soul, might be helpful in confirm- 
ing staunch Christian believers in their faith, and in leading stray 
sheep, veritable prodigals, back to the fold and to their Father's 
home, which they had thoughtlessly abandoned. 

In those preliminary observations I chiefly aimed at convinc- 
ing my readers of the all-important fact that no discussion can 

541 



542 Retrospective Summary 

be more advantageous to any human individual than that which 
concerns his highest personal interests of time and of eternity, 
and that is the true knowledge of the divine purpose prefixed 
to him, and of the means infallibly leading and helping him to 
secure it. No mortal that makes the proper, wise use of his 
mental faculties, will venture to leave this world without first 
inquiring how he can attain in the next the interminable hap- 
piness which God promised to every member of the human 
family. 

CHAPTER II 
KETROSPECT— A SYNTHETIC SUMMARY 

725. Part I answers the most important question that a ra- 
tional being can put to himself; namely, the purpose, meaning, 
or end of his brief existence upon earth, in accordance with the 
wise and bountiful designs of our Creator. 

The answer is found to fully satisfy the claims of the human 
mind and the aspirations, cravings and tendencies of the human 
heart. 

We are here to procure God's honor and glory by submis- 
sion to His holy will and by so doing to secure to ourselves the 
happiness of eternal life. To put us on our guard against the 
danger of missing forever such a lofty destiny, this Part is 
rightly concluded by showing that there is only one impedi- 
ment to the attainment of our last happy end, an impediment 
depending entirely on our free will, and that is the utter neglect 
of God's service, inevitably accompanied by grievous divine 
offenses. 

To point out to man the way leading him securely to his last 
end God has proclaimed His commandments and laws. 

726. Part II asks the pertinent question whether Almighty 
God, the Supreme Legislator of mankind, is indifferent whether 
men, His creatures and subjects, observe those laws, or trans- 
gress them, that is, whether man fulfils his end or neglects it. 
The answer is an emphatic negative, as it is shown by the fact 
that our Sovereign Lord and Lawgiver, to enforce the execution 
of His commands, the observance of His laws, has furnished them 
with a double sanction, remunerative and punitive, that is, 
perfect, immense, eternal happiness to the observers, and com- 
plete misery and everlasting torments to the violators of His 
commandments. 

As both sanctions are everlasting, they naturally imply the 
endless duration both of the just in heaven and of the repro- 
bates in hell. 

727.. Part III establishes this truth on the strongest founda- 



And Bibliography 543 

tions and brings to bear in favor of immortality an array of argu- 
ments and proofs which it is utterly impossible to resist, and 
they are : 

1. The authority of divine revelation. 

2. The dictates of human reason. 

3. The pronouncements or definitions of the Catholic Church. 

4. The unbroken testimony of tradition. 

5. The general consent of mankind. 

728. Part IV explains the import of remunerative sanction, 
by displaying before us the teachings of divine revelation on the 
happiness of the just souls after death, and of their glorified 
bodies after the general resurrection. It also exhibits the doc- 
trine of Catholic theology concerning the new state of men's 
bodily organism in the life to come. 

It is a self-evident and most cheering truth that Almighty 
God, our Sovereign Creator and Supreme Benefactor, is more 
anxious, more desirous that we should attairt our last happy end 
than we could be ourselves. 

729. Part V is devoted to the demonstration of this Catholic 
truth, which it does by displaying before us the manifold helps 
furnished to us to that effect. In fact, the benefits of nature, 
the benefits of grace, and the promised benefits of glory are all 
directed to that same noble purpose, by affording needed aid in 
our struggles, and encouraging us to persevere by the divine 
prospects of heavenly recompense. 

To these are added the infinite merits of Christ, by whose 
application sin, the chief and only obstacle to the attainment of 
heavenly glory, is canceled, and the sanctified soul becomes 
capable of increasing its reward by meritorious works. 

Then comes the very practical discussion on what should be 
man's attitude toward divine revelation, announcing to him the 
magnificent prospects held out to all sincere believers by the 
Catholic Faith. To adults, that prove the sincerity of their 
faith by the holiness of their life, heavenly happiness has been 
promised, and, when granted after death, it will enhance the 
joys of the blessed by this additional, exquisite delight, that 
their bliss is not only, though principally, the gift of God's in- 
finite goodness and liberality, but also the reward of their free, 
faithful co-operation to divine grace, according to those cheer- 
ing words of our Divine Lord registered in the Apocalypse : 
"To him that shall overcome, I will give to sit with Me in My 
throne." 1 

For baptized children that die in infancy the possession of 
heaven is a sheer gift of God's immense goodness. 

At this juncture we find it necessary to treat the question of 
the condition of infants who die unbaptized. 

Catholic theologians whose teachings the Church has never 

i Apoc. iii. 21. 



544 Retrospective Summary 

in any way disapproved, hold that such children, though ex- 
cluded from the beatific vision, suffer no sensitive pain whatever 
and even enjoy a degree of natural happiness, amply sufficient 
to make them not only perfectly resigned to their condition, but 
also to render them quite contented with their state. 

730. The punitive sanction furnishes the subject matter of 
Part VI. After showing how divinely revealed truths are dem- 
onstrated, the following propositions are proved by the same 
divine authority: 

1. The existence of hell and of its torments is a stern reality. 

2. Fire is hell's chief torture. 

3. To this are added other infernal pains, also divinely re- 
vealed. 

4. This punishment is incurred by death in mortal sin. And 
it was precisely for the purpose of deterring us from sin that 
God in His wisdom and justice has created hell for the chastise- 
ment of the wicked angels and reprobate, impenitent human 
creatures. He warns us in order that we may not force Him 
to punish us. 

5. Several of the aforementioned penalties are confirmed by 
the testimonies of ancient authors, as well as of modern writers, 
up to our own times. 

731. In Part VII is found a thorough discussion and stringent 
demonstration of hell's most awful characteristic; namely, the 
eternity of its duration, which is proved by : 

1. The testimony of Holy Scripture. 

2. The teaching of the Catholic Church and of the several 
separated churches, both the Oriental schismatic communions and 
the Christian heretical denominations. 

4. The authority of the Greek and Latin Fathers. 

5. An unbroken chain of other witnesses. 

6. The testimony of the martyrs. 

7. The writings of both ancient and modern authors, that is, 
of both the heathen and the Christian witnesses. 

732. Part VIII supplies the reader with principles intended 
to facilitate the solution of difficulties raised by numerous oppo- 
nents against eternal punishment. 

733. Part IX adduces and answers, in the form of a dialogue, 
the chief objections urged by rationalists, Unitarians, infidels, 
Universalists, and other adversaries against the existence and 
endless duration of hell's torments. 

We here submit to the reader the following serious reflection : 
When we recall the undeniable fact that the whole of Christen- 
dom, whether Catholic, schismatical, or heretical, professes its be- 
lief in the everlasting punishment allotted to sinners dying im- 
penitent, all must admit that it is treason to God and treachery 
to men for any minister of the Gospel to hide this awful truth 
from his flock and thus rob them of the most powerful means 



And Bibliography 545 

men possess for avoiding sin and escaping its eternal penalties 
in the world to come. 

734. Anxious to benefit our separated Christian brethren also, 
we devote to them the whole of Part X, in which we state the 
orthodox belief of the Reformed Churches and of many distin- 
guished Protestant divines, and refute our and their opponents. 

735. Part XI contains a retrospective summary of the whole 
work, and an alphabetical list of the numerous authors quoted 
or consulted in the preparation of this book. 



CHAPTER III 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 

PRELIMINARY NOTICE 

736. It would be next to impossible to find a subject that has 
proved more important and interesting to writers than that of 
the future life. Hence the reason of the extraordinary num- 
ber of volumes that have been issued on that topic. Take for 
instance, as an evidence of our statement, the production of Ezra 
Abbot, entitled, ' ' Literature of the Doctrine of Future Life, ' ' in 
which he furnishes to the learned world a catalogue compre- 
hending upwards of 5300 works classified under these chief 
headings : 

1. Origin and Destiny of the Human Soul. 

2. Doctrine Concerning Future Life among Non-Christian 
Nations, both Ancient and Modern. 

3. Future Life, According to Christian Theology. 

4. Rewards and Punishment in Future Life. 

The author is a writer remarkable for his varied and accurate 
scholarship, and his untiring industry has produced a work 
which no student, however accomplished, can consult without 
reaping notable profit. 

737. The astounding multitude of such works in every lan- 
guage, both of ancient and modern times, by authors of every 
nationality, proves the firmness with which belief in a future ex- 
istence and consequent retribution is entrenched in man's moral 
constitution. The very denial of this truth proves by its spas- 
modic eagerness and efforts to disprove it how deeply rooted it 
must be in human consciousness. If, for instance, there really 
were no such thing as an eternal hell awaiting impenitent, sin- 
ful human creatures, or if its existence could not be demon- 
strated, absolute indifference toward the notion would long 
since have been the mood of all mankind, and no argument, 
either for or against it, would be constructed. 1 

i See Article of William G. D. Shedd, in North American Review, vol. cxl. 



546 Retrospective Summary 

Not to swell this book to an undue size, I will limit my bibliog- 
raphy exclusively to the authors either quoted or frequently 
consulted in its preparation. 

For the sake of order they are distributed alphabetically to 
facilitate reference. The titles of French works are given in 
the original, as that language is generally understood. The titles 
of works in other modern languages are given in English. 

FIRST SERIES 

738. LATIN AUTHORS 

Billot, S. J., Cardinal, De Novissimis. 
Bellarmine, S. J., Cardinal, De Aeterna Felicitate SS. 
Campodarsego, 0. M. Cap., De Resurrection Mortuorum. 
Chatel, De Igne Inferni. 
Hurter, S. J., De Novissimis. 
Jungmann, De Novissimis. 
Knoll, 0. M. Cap., De Novissimis. 
Lessius, S. J., Opuscula. 
Mazzella, C, Cardinal, De Deo Creante. 
Palmieri, D., S. J., De Deo Creante. 
Passaglia, De Aeternitate Poenarum. 
Patuzzi, V., 0. P., De Futuro Impiorum Statu. 
Perrone, S. J., De Deo Creatore. 
Petavius, S. J., De Angelis. 
Schiffini, S., S. J., Adversaria De Vita Futura. 
Suarez, F., S. J., De Angelis. 

St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Philosophica et Theologica. 
Tongiorgi, S. J., Institutiones Philosophical et Morales. 
Urraburu, S. J., Institutiones Philosophica?. 
Valensise, D., Bishop, De Futura Hominum Resurrectione 
juxta S. Thomae Doctrinam. 

739. CLASSICAL LATIN AUTHORS 

Cicero, Marcus Tullius, Disputationes Tusculanae. 

Horace, Odae et Satyrae. 

Lucan, Pharsalia. 

Lucretius, De Rerum Natura. 

Ovid, Poemata. 

Quintilian, Institutiones. 

Tacitus, Annales et Agricola. 

Virgil, Aeneis. 

SECOND SERIES 

740. CLASSICAL GREEK AUTHORS 

^Eschylus, 
Euripides, 
Herodotus, 
Homer. 



And Bibliography 547 

Iamblicus, 

Pindar, 

Plato, 

Pythagoras, cited by Diogenes Laertius. 

Greek writers and historians edited by Firmin-Didot, Paris. 

THIRD SERIES 

741. FRENCH AUTHORS 

Besson, Msgr., Les Mysteres de la Vie Future. 

Bergier, Abbe, Dictionnaire Theologique. 

Bougaud, Msgr,. Le Christianisme et les Temps Presents. 

Bremond, La Conception Catholique de l'Enfer. 

Bossuet, CEuvres. 

Brecheri, L 'Immortalite de l'Ame chez les Juifs. 

De la Luzerne, Cardinal, (Euvres. 

Elbe, Louis, Vie Future. 

Felix, Pere, S. J., Retraite, Eternite. 

Hamon, Pere, S. J., Au de la du Tombeau. 

Jaugey, Abbe, Dictionnaire Apologetique de la Foi Catholique. 

Martin, Henri, La Vie Future. 

Monsabre, 0. P., Sermons de Careme. 

Nicolas, Auguste, Etudes Philosophiques sur le Christianisme. 

Ortolan, Les Mysteres d 'outre Tombe. 

Quatrefages, Unite de l'Espece Humaine. 

Pascal, Pensees. 

Tournabize, Opinions du jour sur les Peines d 'Outre Tombe. 

Vigoroux, Pere, S.S., La Bible et Les Decouvertes Modernes. 

FOURTH SERIES 

742. GERMAN AUTHORS 

Blot, S. J., In Heaven We Know Our Own. 

Cathrein, Victor, S. J., Catholic Morality — Ethnology. 

Encyclopedia, Edited by Herder. 

Encyclopedia, German-Catholic. 

Flugel, Ethnology. 

Hettinger, Franz, Christian Apology. 

Kneller, C. A., S. J., Christianity and the Leaders of Modern 

Science. 
Knabenbauer, S. J., Studies in Ethnology. 
Pohle-Preuss, Series of Dogmatic Theology — Eschatology. 
Schneider, Bishop, The Other Life. 
Schanz, A Christian Apology. 

FIFTH SERIES 

743. ITALIAN AUTHORS AND REVIEWS 

Alberi, E., The Problem of Man's Destiny. 
Bonomelli, Bishop, Sermons and other Works. (English 
Translation.) 



548 Retrospective Summary 

Bottau, 0. M. R., Catholicism Defended by Its Enemies. 

Cantu, Universal History. 

Civilta Cattolica, a Roman Review conducted by the Jesuit 
Fathers. 

Cornoldi, S. J., Course of Philosophy. On Dante. 

Dante, La Divina Commedia. Hell, Purgatory, Paradise. 

Gallerani, A., S. J., Our Heavenly Country. The Antidote. 

Paglia, F., C. S., Reason Leads to Faith. 

Palmieri, D., S. J., Commentary on Dante. 

Pinamonti, S. J., Hell Opened to Christians. Six Translations. 

Rollino, Rev., Eudemonism. 

Segneri, P., S. J., The Inexcusable Unbeliever. 

Tapparelli, A., S. J., A Theoretical Essay on Natural Right. 

Valensise, Bishop, Solution of a Philosophico-Theological Diffi- 
culty. 

Valsecchi, A., O. P., Reason Triumphant over the Enemies of 
Christian Faith. 

Zocchi, G., S. J., Lenten Sermons and Other Works. 

SIXTH SERIES 

744. SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE AUTHORS 

Balmes, Rev. J., His Philosophical and Other Works (English 
Translation). 

Cortez, Donoso, Essay on Catholicism, Liberalism, and So- 
cialism. 

Mendive, S. J., Catholicism and Its Doctrines Demonstrated. 

Mir, M., S. J., The Harmony Between Faith and Science. 

Vieira, A., S. J., Sermons. (N. B. He is deservedly called 
the Prince of Catholic Orators. ) 

SEVENTH SERIES 

745. CATHOLIC ENGLISH AUTHORS AND REVIEWS 

Barry, Rev. A., Am I of the Chosen? 

Boudreaux, S. J., The Happiness of Heaven. 

Burnett, Peter, Why We Believe in God, Love God and Obey 

God. 
Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. VII. Articles : Heaven, Hell. 
Clark, R,, S. J., Articles in the "Month." Vol. XLIV. 
Lilly, W. S., Ancient Religion and Modern Thought. 
Murray, Rev. T., Essays, chiefly Theological. 
Morton, Victor, A Study in Eschatology. 
O'Reilly, Msgr., Religion of Ancient Nations. 
Oxenham, H. N., Catholic Eschatology and Universalism. 
Pesch, T., S. J., The Christian Philosophy of Life. 
Rickaby, J., S. J., Aquinas Ethicus. 
Raupert, G., Hell and Its Problems— Spiritism. 
Thein, Rev. J., Christian Anthropology. 
Vaughan, Msgr., Faith and Folly, second edition. 
Walsh, N., S. J., Number of Saved and Lost. 



And Bibliography 549 

(N. B. Any Catholic bookseller can furnish any of the Catholic 
books listed above. ) 

EIGHTH SERIES 

746. NON-CATHOLIC ENGLISH AUTHORS 

(N. B. We here record the names and works of some distin- 
guished non-Catholic writers, who defend the doctrine held and 
taught by the Catholic Church on man's supernatural destiny 
and future retribution. The views of some prominent non- 
Catholic writers opposed to this doctrine have been stated and 
refuted in our Part X.) 

Brown, Adams W., Ph.D., The Christian Hope, a study in the 
doctrine of Immortality. 

(N. B. A very extensive selected bibliography greatly en- 
hances the value of this book. ) 

Fosdic, Harry E., The Assurance of Immortality. 

Gordon, Rev. George A., The Witness to Immortality. 

(N. B. This is a very learned production covering a wide 
field as shown in the following headings) : A. The Hebrew 
Prophets — Inspiration. B. The Poets — Faith and Feeling. C. 
The Philosophers— Faith and Reason. D. The Apostle Paul — 
Personal Revelation. E. Jesus Christ — Faith and Fact. F. 
Trust and Immortality. The Grounds of Faith. 

Goulburn, Rev. Edward M., Everlasting Punishment. 

Hyslop, James H., Science and Future Life. 

(N. B. This is the work of a clear-headed scientist, who pre- 
sents in his volume most lucid and satisfactory proof of a future 
life, the result of searching conscientious investigations.) 

Hodge, Rev. J. Aspinwall, Recognition After Death. 

Hudson, J. Thomson, LL.D., A Scientific Demonstration of 
the Future Life. 

Jefferson, Rev. Charles E., Why We May Believe in Life After 
Death. 

(N. B. This is one of the Raymond F. West Memorial Lec- 
tures, founded in Leland Stanford Junior University at Palo 
Alto, California in 1910. A very able production doin<,» full 
justice to the threefold subject proposed by the Founders, viz., 
Immortality, Human Conduct, and Human Destiny.) 

747. Mr. Charles E. Jefferson is a brilliant, thoughtful writer, 
and I availed myself of several of his happy suggestions con- 
tained in his lecture "Why We May Believe in Life After 
Death," which he delivered at Stanford University, California, 
a few years ago. It is, however, to be regretted that his other- 
wise excellent production is marred here and there by undue 
deference and concessions to the temper of modern rationalistic 
scientists and by more than one contradictory passage, which 
leave the reader uncertain about the orthodoxy of the writer on 



550 Retrospective Summary 

the main point at issue, the true destiny of man and the soul's 
immortality. 

A few passages are deemed sufficient to justify our criticism. 
On page 39 he writes : ' ' Incontrovertible and absolute certainty 
on the human destiny is not obtainable. ' ' On page 48 he says : 
"The knowledge of our destiny is the result of a reasoned con- 
viction, a spiritual acquisition maintained in the teeth of opposi- 
tion." On page 134 we find the following: "Philosophy, like 
science, brings no incontrovertible proof of the soul's immor- 
tality." On page 152 we meet with a contradictory statement 
couched in these terms: "Long before the Bible was written 
there were arguments for immortality, which satisfied philoso- 
phic and scientific minds." 

Kempson, Rev. F. Claude, The Future Life and Modern Diffi- 
culties. New York, 1907. 

(N. B. Publisher's note, which we fully endorse: "The 
chief aim of this book is to show that the doctrine of science does 
not really come into collision with the Creed of Christendom. 
The author, being both a parish priest [a minister] and a uni- 
versity teacher of science, treats it in both aspects. The diffi- 
culties created by the moral revolt against crude statements of 
the doctrine of eternal punishment, are also dealt with, and, as 
far as possible, removed.") 

King, Rev. George W., of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
Future Retribution. New York, 1891. 

(N. B. A very able exposition and refutation of the chief 
modern theories opposed to the Christian Dogma of endless Retri- 
bution in the next world. The very best book on that subject 
among the works of non-Catholic writers that came within my 
knowledge. ) 

Paton, James, D.D. The Glory and Joy of the Resurrection. 

Pusey, Rev. E. B., D.D. What is of Faith as to Everlasting 
Punishment. London, 1880. 

(N. B. Among the several learned works that appeared in 
England and America in refutation of Dr. Farrar's "Eternal 
Hope," a plea for Universalism, Pusey 's work is by far the 
soundest and the ablest.) 

Rawlinson, The Religions of Ancient Nations. 

Reid, Rev. William, Everlasting Punishment and Modern 
Speculation. Edinburgh, 1874. 

(N. B. To what we said in the text in appreciation of this 
conscientious volume we add the following remarks: 

With rare ability and correct knowledge of the topics he writes 
upon, he does full justice to these several questions : 

A. Refutation of chief opponents such as the Rationalists, the 
Universalists, the Destructionists. 

B. Future Punishment expressly taught in Scripture. 

C. The Present Life our only Probation. 



And Bibliography 551 

D. The Teaching of Both Natural and Moral Law. 

E. Objections Against Divine Goodness and Divine Justice, 
Stated and Solved. 

F. Eternal Punishment not Disproportionate to the Demerit 
of Sin. 

G. Eternal Punishment not Disciplinary.) 

Salmond, Stewart D. F., M.A., D.D. The Christian Doctrine 
of Immortality. Edinburgh, 1903. 

Symposium, a Clerical, on What are the Foundations of the 
Belief in the Immortality of man. London, 1885. 

(N. B. It comprises eleven contributors, among whom there 
is a Catholic prelate, the Right Rev. Bishop Weathers, then 
Coadjutor to His Eminence, the late Cardinal Manning, Arch- 
bishop of Westminster. The other contributors are non-Catholic 
clergymen. The Rev. Herman Adler is a Jewish rabbi, and 
George G. Stokes is a university professor. Of the ten non- 
Catholic authors, only two are opposed to the doctrine of immor- 
tality. They both advocate the theory of conditional immor- 
tality, fully refuted by us in Parts III, IX, and X. 

Thompson, Robert J., The Proof of the Life After Death. 
Boston, 1908. 

(N. B. The Editor requested by letter a large number of pro- 
fessional men, lay and clerical, to state their belief or opinion on 
the Immortality of the Human Soul, and consequent Future 
Retribution. As many as ninety-five responded, alleging the 
reasons or arguments of their respective views on the matter at 
issue. Of these 23 were doubtful or, better, non-committal; 41 
were orthodox, and 31 took the negative side. The arguments 
of these heterodox writers are summed up and refuted in Part 
VIII. 

Among the contributors we find one lone representative of the 
Catholic Church, His Eminence Cardinal Gibbons, who proved 
himself more than equal in ability to the non-Catholic contribu- 
tors. His reply to the question, what he thought of man's im- 
mortality, fills seven pages, and is a veritable masterpiece, both 
on account of the solidity of his arguments and the choice, smooth 
flowing language of which he has a perfect command. He thus 
fully sustains the unrivaled superiority of Catholic genius illu- 
mined by faith over sectarian and non-Catholic scientific celeb- 
rities. ) 

The Unknown Country, or Future Retribution, according to 
the opinions of Sages, Scholars, and Divines of the Present Time. 
Springfield, 1890. 

(N. B. The scope and character of this Third Symposium are 
fully explained in Part IX.) 

Wescott, Brooke, Foss., D.D., Regius Professor of Divinity, 
Cambridge, England. The Gospel of the Resurrection. Lon- 
don, 1874. 



552 Retrospective Summary 

748. The study of our important subject fully convinces us 
that the present book could not enlist the interest of the cultured 
people of our times unless it did fair justice to the numerous 
modern works written either in favor or against the Christian 
dogma which we have undertaken to defend. In other words, 
we felt that our production, to meet with acceptance, was to be 
up-to-date as to the authorities quoted for or against it. Hence 
the reason why we managed to secure the latest and ablest litera- 
ture bearing directly or indirectly on the question of Future 
Life. To the list of authors cited above we must add the names 
of twelve recent writers of the Ingersoll Lecture Course. This 
foundation was the result of a legacy bequeathed to the trustees 
of Harvard University at Cambridge, Mass., in 1893. According 
to the provision of said legacy, one lecture is to be delivered each 
year on this subject, "The Immortality of Man." The lecturers, 
then, if they adhered to the subject proposed by the founders, 
were bound to treat not only of the immortality of the human 
soul, but also of the immortality of the other integral and con- 
stituent part of the human compound, man's body. In fact, 
what is the true definition of man? Sound philosophy defines 
man to be a rational being consisting of a spiritual soul and a 
material organism, the body. Now, what has been the result? 
Not one of the twelve lecturers stuck to the subject proposed, and 
consequently none of them deserved the pecuniary compensation 
provided for in the terms of the foundation. 

Here the reader will naturally be anxious to know why the 
lecturers steered clear of any reference to the future, immor- 
tal destiny of the human body, and confined themselves exclu- 
sively to the soul. We know of no other reason but the fol- 
lowing: Their reticence is accounted for because, according to 
Catholic teaching, the future destiny of the human body, that 
is, its reunion with the soul, through the final resurrection, is a 
miraculous event requiring the intervention of God's omnipo- 
tence, and the certainty of its future occurrence can be ascer- 
tained only from divine revelation. Now this is a Christian doc- 
trine, which those learned lecturers either ignored or refused to 
accept. On this account, consistently with their usual disregard 
or contempt of revealed truths, wise in their generation, they pre- 
served a dignified silence on that obnoxious topic, the ultimate 
destiny of man 's body in the next world. It is plain, then, that 
only Catholics, or other thoroughgoing believers in God 's revela- 
tion and consequently in the dogma of future resurrection, could 
do justice to the subject stated in the terms of the foundation : 
' ' The Immortality of Man. ' ' Though, according to the provision 
of the legacy in question, the choice of the lecturer is not to be 
limited to any one religious denomination, nor to any one profes- 
sion, yet no Catholic name appears among the twelve lecturers. 
"What motive may have induced the Harvard University trustees 



And Bibliography 553 

to discriminate against Catholics, the reader may easily guess: 
hence we need not stop to investigate. We here append the list 
of the twelve speakers with the title of their respective lectures in 
chronological order from the year 1896 to the year 1912. The 
reader who may desire to peruse them will see for himself how 
far the speakers departed from what should have been the con- 
scientious treatment of the subject intended and given by the 
founders. 

749. 1. George A. Gordon, Immortality and the New Theodicv 
(1896). 

2. Professor William James, Human Immortality (1897). 

3. Benjamin Ide Wheeler, Dionysos (The Greek Faith) and 
Immortality (1898). 

4. Professor Josiah Royce, The Conception of Immortality 
(1899). 

5. Dr. William Osier, Science and Immortality (1904). 

6. Samuel Melhoid Cutters, The Endless Life (1905). 

7. William Ostwald, Individuality and Immortality (1906). 

8. Chas. Fletcher Dole, The Hope of Immortality, Our Rea- 
sons for It (1907). 

9. William Sturgis Bigelow, Buddhism and Immortality 
(1908). 

10. G. Lowes Dickinson, Is Immortality Desirable? (1909). 

11. George Andrew Reisner, The Egyptian Conception of Im- 
mortality (1911). 

12. George Herbert Palmer, Intimation of Immortality in the 
Sonnets of Shakespeare (1912). 

CONCLUSION 

750. As we were casting about for some pithy sentence that 
might be cited as a fitting close of our book, we came across the 
following passage ending the recent English version of the ascet- 
ical masterpiece of Father Jeremiah Drexelius, S. J., ' ' The Helio- 
tropium, ' ' which is here reproduced with a brief addition suited 
to the contents of our volume on The Future Life : 

"Let the Universe be disturbed by tempests from every quar- 
ter; let armed battalions close in deadly fray; let fleets be 
crippled, sunk, and destroyed by fleets ; let the courts ring with 
endless litigations ; still this is my chief business in life, to con- 
form myself entirely to the one and only will of God, and, by so 
doing, to secure my heavenly, everlasting happiness in the 
world to come. ' ' 

' ■ The world passes away, and the concupiscence thereof ; but 
he that doth the will of God abideth forever." I John ii, 17. 

"Let us all hear together the conclusion of the discourse: 
Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is all man." — 
Ecclesiastes xii. 13. 

THE END 



ALPHABETICAL INDEX 

(The figures refer to the marginal paragraphs, not to the pages.) 



Academy, French, the question of 
the belief of the ancient Hebrews 
in immortality discussed and 
defended, 272. 

Alger, author of History of the Doc- 
trine of Future Life. His errone- 
ous assertions refuted, 709, 710, 
711. 

Anglican Church, its inconsistency 
regarding belief in eternal pun- 
ishment, 682. 

Annihilation, God alone possesses 
the power of, 201, 202, 206; He 
has the absolute power of annihi- 
lating angelic spirits and human 
souls, but He will never use it. 
Why? 207, 208; the Annihilation 
theory exposed and refuted, 605, 
606, 607; what it leads to, 550, 
620. 

Apocryphal Books, so called, re- 
jected by Protestants, why ad- 
mitted as canonical bv the Cath- 
olic Church, 248, 249, 698. 

Augustine, St., his comment on 
Matt. xxv. 46, 546. 

Authority, a very valuable criterion 
of truth whenever it is shown to 
be trustworthy, 424, 425, 426. 

Arguments of Protestant divines 
and other non-Catholic writers 
against hell's eternity stated and 
refuted, 693, 714. 

Attributes, divine, can never con- 
flict with one another, 590; 
though infinite in themselves, 
their external exercise or mani- 
festation toward creatures is es- 
sentially finite, 586, 593. 



B 



Benefits, promised, of glory, 379. 

Beecher, Henry Ward, his theory 
that God is to suffer, not sinners, 
596. 

Benedict XII, his definition on 
the beatific vision, and on the 
lot of the reprobates, 703, 714. 

Bible students, their resolution 
abolishing Hell passed unani- 
mously in Washington, D. C, 715. 

Bibliography on Future Life, what 
its wide extension proves, 736, 
737. 

Blessed, the, their many exquisite 
delights, both essential and acci- 
dental, 336, 337, 338, 349, 350. 

Body, the risen, will share with the 
soul either reward or punishment 
according to man's merits or de- 
merits, 358, 360. 

Bolingbroke, his testimony on the 
belief of ancient nations in the 
soul's immortality, 519. 

Biichner, his materialistic view on 
the destiny of the human body 
after death, 356. 

Budge, Professor, his testimony on 
Egyptian belief in man's immor- 
tality and his accountability to 
an invisible Judge, 283. 

Buffon, the famous French natural- 
ist, his noble concept of man con- 
trasted with the degrading defi- 
nition given by Darwin, 50. 

Burnett, Dr. Thomas, his grossly 
absurd doctrine on future punish- 
ment, that it should be preached 
even by preachers who do not be- 
lieve in it, 4. 

Brownson, Orestes, what he says of 
his attitude toward the Catholic 
religion and its doctrines, 56. 



Beatitude, of the intellect, 319; of 
the will, 321 ; it begins immedi- 
ately after death, 333, 335; it 
will be extensively greater after 
the Resurrection, 335 ; and also ex- 
tensively greater than that of 
the blessed angels, 336; it can 
never be lost, 331, 332. 

Benefits, divine, of nature, 376, 377. 

Benefits of grace, 378. 

555 



Calvin, his hideous creed on pre- 
destination contrasted with the 
doctrine of the Catholic Church 
on that subject, 406, 407, 408, 680. 

Catholic Church, the, her doctrine 
on the immortality of the human 
soul, 260; she was appointed to 
interpret divine revelation, 549. 

Cantu, the famous Italian author of 



556 



Alphabetical Index 



Universal History, on the belief 
of Egyptians in religious and 
moral truths, and on their adher- 
ence to primitive revelation, 
285. 

Chain, an unbroken, of witnesses to 
the truth of eternal punishment 
from the end of the Patristic Age 
to the sixteenth century, 509, 510. 

Celsus, pagan philosopher and an- 
tagonist of Origen; he testifies to 
the belief of the early Christians 
in eternal punishment, 547. 

Christ, Jesus, His infinite merits 
and their application, 380, 381; 
application proportioned to each 
one's merits and dispositions, 
382; His atonement for the sins 
of men, 384, 386; His different 
kinds of sufferings were also in- 
tended to show the gravity of the 
different kinds of sin, 388 ; per- 
fect reliability of His testimony 
as recorded in the Gospel, 420, 
427; His divinity, 427. 

Church, what Church is able to in- 
terpret the truths of divine reve- 
lation without fear of error, 491, 
492, 493. 

Condamin, A. S. J., what he writes 
on the religious and moral belief 
and tenets of Assyria and Baby- 
lonia, 288. 

Communion, worthy communion a 
sure pledge of a glorious resur- 
rection, 360, 361. 

Conflict, there can be no conflict be- 
tween the truths of divine revela- 
tion and the dictates of sound 
reason, 260. 

Councils, Ecumenical or General, 
what requisites make them legiti- 
mate and infallible, 497, 498. 

Conscience, inner, bears witness to 
the necessity and existence of fu- 
ture retribution, 465, 468; the 
utilitarian theory of conscience 
stated and refuted, 469. 

Co-operation with divine grace; it 
is necessary for salvation, and re- 
quired whenever possible, 385, 387. 

Creation, the wonders of, they 
greatly assist man in fulfilling 
his duty of glorifying God, 75- 
80; how they glorify God, 71. 

Create, why does God create souls 
whose impenitence and everlast- 
ing damnation He foresees? 653, 
656. 657, 658. 

Criminals, the worst, would escape 
all punishments for their mon- 



strous excesses if there were no 
future retribution, 570. 
Creeds, the Latin, Greek and Evan- 
gelical [new name for Protestant] 
creeds admit the eternal happi- 
ness of heaven for the just and 
the everlasting pains of hell for 
the wicked, 675. 



D 



Damascene, St. John, his dialogue 
with a Manichean. How he solved 
the latter's difficulty against di- 
vine justice, 656. 

Darwin, Charles, his degrading defi- 
nition of man, 50. 

Darkness, one of hell's torments, 
451. 

Davidson, an English rationalist, on 
what condition he admits the 
proclamation of hell's eternity by 
the Bible, 535. 

Death, true meaning of "second 
death" in Apocalypse (xx. 6; xx. 
14), 505-510, 512; the fear of 
death no proof against the soul's 
immortality, 233 ; death in mor- 
tal sin an irreparable ruin, 533. 

Dead, where are the unnumbered 
dead? 461. 

De Broglie, what this distinguished 
French abbe says of the beliefs of 
ancient nations, 292. 

Defenders, who are the authorized 
defenders of the Faith? 577, 578. 

De Quatrefages, what this renowned 
ethnologist says of the religion of 
Antiquity, 292. 

Devil, his promises are fallacious, 
hollow, and treacherous, 88. 

Del'homme, O. P., what he writes 
on the belief of the ancient As- 
syrians and Babylonians in fu- 
ture retribution, 287. 

Destroy, to, Destruction. These 
Scriptural terms do not signify 
annihilation, 615-618, 682. 

Dignity of adopted sons of God, 
what it implies, 379. 

Disruption, doctrinal, of Protestant- 
ism; it is due to the substitution 
of private, individual judgment 
for the infallible authority of 
God's Church, 549. 

Distinction or difference between 
the goods of this life and those 
of the next, 88, 111. 



Alphabetical Index 



557 



E 



Ecclesiastes iii. 19, 20 no proof 
against future life, 253, 254. 

Edison, Thomas, how he turned phi- 
losopher, 305. 

Egyptians, the ancient, their belief 
in immortality and future retri- 
bution, 281-287. 

End of Man, difference between the 
individual ends, which are mani- 
fold, and the universal end, which 
is one and the same for all, 65; 
proximate and last end of man 
are both extrinsic and intrinsic, 
68, 69; primary end to glorify 
God, secondary end to secure his 
own endless happiness ; the for- 
mer is absolute, and God shall in- 
fallibly obtain it; the latter is 
conditional and depending on 
man's co-operation, and may be 
missed, 70, 71, 582, 600; it is, 
according to St. Ignatius, in his 
book of Exercises, the principle 
and foundation of Spiritual Life, 
72. 

Envy, not possible in heaven, 372. 

Essence, the divine, the blessed see 
God's infinite essence, but cannot 
fully comprehend it, vident totum 
Deum, sed non totaliter, as St. 
Thomas expresses it, 314. 

Ethnologists, leading, Gustav Fliigel, 
Joseph Knabenbauer, S.J., Victor 
Cathrein, S.J., the result of their 
historical and geographical in- 
vestigations, 519. 

Eternal punishment, denied in spir- 
itualistic seances or meetings 
through diabolical intervention, 
484; its denial leads inevitably 
to very immoral and absurd con- 
sequences, 169; other opponents, 
484; it is not contrary to reason 
properly consulted, 172; what 
helps to understand its justice, 
482; hell's eternity is necessary 
as an efficient deterrent from 
evil-doing, 174, 544, 545; it is 
demonstrated by different but 
equivalent Scriptural expressions, 
485 ; it is revealed both in the Old 
Testament, 487; and in the New, 
488; its eternal duration accord- 
ing to the dogmatic definitions of 
the Catholic Church, 494, 495. 

Evangelical preachers that muffle 
hell, their dreadful responsibilitv 
before God, 721, 722. 

Evil accompanies wicked conduct, 



even in the present life, 161; the 
ability to do evil is no evidence 
of power but of weakness, 327, 
329; this truth is explained by 
Lessius, S.J., 330. 



Faith, Catholic, is eminently reason- 
able, 55; how the truths of faith 
or supernatural dogmas are 
proved, 423, 424. 

Fathers, of the Church, who are 
reckoned as such, 503; witnesses 
to hell's eternity, 505-508; para- 
mount value of their testimony, 
particularly if morally unani- 
mous, 504. 

Father, God is a too tender hearted 
Father to condemn any of His 
children to an eternal hell; an- 
swer to this difficulty, 588. 

Farrar, Canon, author of "Eternal 
Hope," refuted, 697. 

Figuier, a rationalistic scientist, the 
final destiny of all human souls 
according to his absurd and ridic- 
ulous theory, 355. 

Fire of hell not metaphorical, but 
real, 445, 446. 

Florence, Council of, what this gen- 
eral Council defined concerning 
the lot of the just and the wicked 
in the next world, 703. 

Foreknowledge of God no hindrance 
to man's liberty, 548. 

Freedom, why God granted it to 
men, though He foreknew that 
many would abuse it, 642. 

Frepell, Msgr., on the belief of the 
ancient Hebrews in immortality 
and future retribution, 272. 

Froude, J. A., one of his philosophi- 
cal blunders when attempting to 
refute Leibnitz, 593; his opinion 
on the resurrection, 341. 



G 



Gibbons, Cardinal, refutes Edison's 

materialistic utterance, 305. 
God alone can make man perfectly 

happy, 91-95. 
Goods resulting from a virtuous 

life even in the present world, 

161. 
Green, Mrs. Hetty, her millions 

could not make her happy, 85. 
Greatness, what constitutes true 

greatness, 117. 
Gunther, what this historian writes 



558 



Alphabetical Index 



concerning the religious and mor- 
al belief of ancient peoples, 520. 



H 



Happiness, its meaning and con- 
stituents, 82; object of man's as- 
pirations, 84; it is not marred by 
the knowledge of the damnation 
of others, 707 ; perfect only in the 
next life, 211; only aspirations 
to true perfect happiness can 
claim a divine origin, 217; when 
are these aspirations frustrated? 
236. 

Harmony of all Catholic doctrines, 
226. 

Harlez, De, his view on the religion 
of the ancient Chinese, 292. 

Harvard University, criticism of lec- 
tures on man's immortality, 748, 
749. 

Heaven, its existence scarcely calls 
for proofs, 314; why we should 
often meditate on it, 339 ; its at- 
tainment left to man's choice, 393. 

Heidelberg Catechism orthodox on 
the dogma of future retribution, 
678. 

Hell, the dogmatic truths defined by 
the Catholic Church concerning 
it, 539; its penalty begins imme- 
diately after death in unretracted 
mortal sin, 458; it is the exclu- 
sive lot of wilful, deliberate sin- 
ners, 540; are there any human 
creatures in hell? 665, 667. 

Helvetic Confession, the, condemns 
the advocates of final restitution 
or deliverance from hell, such as 
the Anabaptists, 677. 

Hindus, their religious and moral 
beliefs according to the historian 
Cantu, 292. 

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Dr., what 
he says of the death of Catholics 
as compared with that of Protes- 
tants, 233. 

Honor, Roll of, it comprises fully 
260 names of distinguished scien- 
tific men orthodox on Christian 
Eschatology, 307, 308. 

Hudson, an American divine, his 
gratuitous, startling denial, 259. 

Huetius, what he writes of the be- 
lief of the ancient Greeks and 
Romans, 521. 

Hunger, one of the torments of hell 
according to the Scriptures, 
452. 



Infallibility, two popular proofs of 
its necessity, 245, 246; it does not 
exclude the occasional need of 
General Councils, 496; where is 
it to be found? 247. 

Inconsistent conduct of some indi- 
viduals, 43. 

Indifference in matters of religion, 
40. 

Ingersoll, Robert, the notorious an- 
tichristian lecturer rebuked by a 
U. S. Senator, 33. 

Inquiries that cannot be evaded, 19. 

Immortality essential, natural, and 
miraculous, 189; natural, is the 
gift of Creation, not of Redemp- 
tion, 560; common to angels and 
human souls, 560; essential, is 
proper of God alone, 189; condi- 
tional or voluntary immortality 
refuted, 560, 706; glorious im- 
mortality of the risen bodies is 
the gift of redemption, 562. 

Impenitent sinners justly punished 
by God, 654. 

Impossible observance of the divine 
Commandments not true, 541. 



Japanese of the sixteenth century, 
testimony of St. Francis Xavier 
about their belief in endless pun- 
ishment, 524. 

Jefferson, Charles E., remarks on 
his essay bearing on immortality 
and future retribution, 746, 747. 

Jewish People, ancient, their belief 
in immortality and in future re- 
wards and punishments, 268, 269, 
270, 272. 

Jewish Encyclopedia, its erroneous 
statements concerning Jewish be- 
lief, 280. 

Judas, Christ's words about his 
traitor (Matt. xxvi. 24) conclu- 
sively prove his eternal damna- 
tion, 489, 490. 

Joys of the blessed not diminished 
or impeded by their knowledge of 
the damnation of others, 626, 627, 
628. 



K 



Kane, Fr. Robert, S.J., his fearless 
language in defense of the Faith, 

7. 



Alphabetical Index 



559 



Knowledge acquired on earth very 
imperfect, if compared with that 
possessed by the elect in heaven, 
95. 

Kant, his erroneous and immoral 
conception of liberty, 395. 



Laity, the Catholic, how are they to 
defend the Faith against its op- 
ponents? 579. 

Lactantius, his interpretation of 
"second death" in Apocalypse 
(xx. 14), 612. 

Lajard, orientalist scholar, bears 
testimony to the religious and 
moral belief of the Ancient Per- 
sians, 289. 

Life, what kind of life brings man 
to his happy destiny, 120. 

Life everlasting in Luke xviii. 18; 
how understood by Christ, 258. 

Life, its meaning and kinds stated, 
613. 

Liberty, physical and moral liberty 
denned, 392; its kinds according 
to Holy Scripture, 393; how un- 
derstood by Catholic philoso- 
phers, 395; by its abuse the sin- 
ner causes his own damnation, 
550, 557, 559; it is denied by 
Calvinists and Presbyterians ac- 
cording to the Westminster Con- 
fession, 395 ; its nature and func- 
tion are radically perverted by 
Kant, Spencer, and John Stuart 
Mill, 395. 

Liturgy, the Catholic, testifies to 
life eternal, 263-266. 

Loss, pain of, its justice and sever- 
ity, 437, 438. 

Luther, his abominable doctrine on 
sin, 597 ; his heresies condemned 
by Leo X, 674. 



M 



Magi, the, were Persians, 290. 

Mallon, Rev. A., on belief of Egyp- 
tians in man's accountability, 284. 

Manning, Cardinal, on scientific un- 
believers, 49. 

Martyrdom remains unrewarded if 
there be no life eternal, 231. 

Martyrs, what constitutes a true 
martyr, 513; their testimony to 
the truth of eternal punishment, 
513, 514; record of their dying 
words, 517, 518. 



Maury, a distinguished orientalist, 
what he says of the belief of the 
xlncient Hebrews, 271. 

Merit, in what sense creatures can 
merit before God, 369, 370. 

Mendelssohn, Rabbi Moses, his re- 
markable testimony, 279. 

Mill, James and Stuart, their blas- 
phemous idea of God must be 
traced to Calvin's hideous teach- 
ing on predestination, 639, 640. 

Modern Protestant creeds, orthodox 
on the duration of future punish- 
ment, 682. 

Moral law and its sanction as proofs 
of the soul's immortality, 214, 215. 

Montfagon, French historian, what 
he writes of the religious belief 
of the Romans, 522. 



N 



Non-Catholics, how they may be 
saved, 404. 



Objection, when said to be insolu- 
ble, 574. 

Osier, Dr., what he thinks of Cath- 
olics, 54. 

Origen, his brief biography, his 
errors and condemnation, 554. 

Original sin, what- is its penalty in 
the next world according to Cath- 
olic tfcctrine, 411-414. 

Oxenham, H. N., M.A., his Escha- 
tology quoted, 18. 



Pains, sensitive, they cannot be ex- 
cluded from hell without contra- 
vening Catholic doctrine, 566; 
their exclusion not countenanced 
by quotation from Taparelli's Es- 
say, 567 ; they are endured both 
by demons and the reprobate hu- 
man souls, 448. 

Physician, a, what he thought of 
the next life, 12. 

Persians, the ancient, their reli- 
gious belief, 289, 290. 

Plato, his ethical tenets and teach- 
ings, 521. 

Pilgrimage, our earthly, its chief 
scope, according to God's designs, 
and man's destiny. 113. 

Pleadings, vain, of a lost soul that 
neglected the means of grace, 542. 



560 



Alphabetical Index 



Probation, future, no future proba- 
tion according to the Scriptures, 
182, 489; Scriptural texts exclud- 
ing it, 631, 633; it is limited by 
God's ordinance to man's earthly 
life, 531, 630, 632. 

Proportion justly required between 
the offense and its punishment, 
583. 

Promises, the divine, the Universal- 
ists say promises are to be kept, 
but threats need not be executed, 
answer to this difficulty, 645, 646, 
648, 649. 

Punishment, what is its chief pur- 
pose? 176, 532. 

Punishment, eternal, cannot be in- 
finite in intensity, but is infinite 
in duration, 533 ; how it can be 
reconciled with God's infinite 
love, 585, 586; its chief purpose 
is not to reform the criminal, 
hence it is neither disciplinary 
nor medicinal, 599, 600, 601, 603. 

Protestant, what are genuine Prot- 
estant doctrines? 403; as such 
they eannot be available for sal- 
vation, 404. 

Protestant sects leaning on politi- 
cal rulers, 493 ; all Protestant 
denominations from a. d. 1530 to 
1846 orthodox on the dogma of 
future retribution, 683; Protes- 
tant ministers, some modern, en- 
dorsed the Bible Students' reso- 
lution abolishing hell, 716; some 
Protestant clergymen of our times 
either denying the Christian dog- 
ma of endless punishment or fear- 
ing to preach it, 718. 

Purgatory, if long, can it affect the 
degree of heavenly glory secured 
by the person's meritorious 
works? 373. 



Q 



Question, when said to be insoluble? 
574. 



R. 



Ravisi, Baron, what he writes about 
the belief of the Egyptians con- 
cerning man's soul, 285. 

Raupert, Godfrey, on Spiritism, 
484. 

Reading of good books, a great 
spiritual help, 378. 

Reason can allege no convincing 



argument against the justice of 
eternal punishment, 353, 530. 

Reprobates, the, after last judg- 
ment will no longer see the hap- 
piness of the blessed, 456; their 
most miserable state, 538. 

Responsibility of man in the busi- 
ness of salvation, 398. 

Resurrection, general, foretold in 
the Old Testament, 340, 341, 342; 
announced in the New Testament, 
346; proclaimed by one of the 
martyred Machabees, 344 ; its mar- 
vels, 341; though known only 
from revelation, yet it is fully 
approved by reason, 358. 

Retribution, as divinely revealed, is 
a most efficacious deterrent from 
evil-doing, 224; it has been held 
and taught by many Protestant 
divines, 684, 686-692. 

Retrospect, brief synthesis of the 
whole work, 724-734. 

Revelation, divine, on the super- 
natural destiny of man, 36, 37. 

Risen bodies of the just, to be en- 
dowed with four supernatural 
qualities or gifts, 347; their won- 
derful transformation, 352-354. 

Rossi, Professor, on Egyptian Escha- 
tology, 285. 

Rousseau, Jean. Jacques, against ra- 
tionalistic philosophers, 525; his 
correct view of liberty as a gift 
of God, 637. 

Ruinart, O. S. B., a conscientious, 
critical historian of the early 
martyrs, 515. 

Russell, Pastor, what some people 
thought of him, 717. 



S 



Sadness, entirely excluded from 
heaven, 322, 324, 325. 

Saints in heaven, though free, will 
never sin, 327. 

Sanction, both remunerative and 
punitive revealed by God, 156; 
present sanction is imperfect, 
160; and insufficient, 164; future 
sanction an efficacious and suffi- 
cient restraint from evil-doing, 
168; its necessity according to 
St. John Chrysostom, 168 ; puni- 
tive sanction to be efficacious 
must include something painful, 
169; its ne<iessity proved, 430, 
431, 433; its opponents, 434, 436; 
it is asserted by ancient writers, 



Alphabetical Index 



561 



and by Greek and Latin classical 
poets, 472; its justice ratified by 
reason, 463, 464. 

Salmond, Stewart, on the beliefs of 
Egyptians, 286; and of Persians, 
291. 

Salvation, "Out of the Church no 
salvation" explained, 399, 400, 
402 ; utterances of Pius IX on 
this subject, 401. 

Sense, the chief pain of sense, hell's 
fire, 439, 440. 

Sects, old heretical sects did not 
deny future retribution, 471. 

Senses, pleasures of the glorified, of 
the just in heaven, 349, 350. 

Sin, logical inference from the 
terms "Everlasting Sin" in Mark 
iii. 29, 531; its permission not 
contrary to God's attributes, 637. 

Sheridan, R. P., his sonnet on place 
of true happiness, 112. 

Shedd, Wm., his judicious remarks 
on the proofs of hell's eternity, 
538. 

Schiffmi, S.J., his rational argu- 
ments on eternal punishment, 553. 

Schismatical, Oriental Churches of 
Russia, Greece, and Turkey hold 
the doctrine of eternal retribu- 
tion, 501, 502. 

Scriptural texts convey in different 
terms the same truth of hell's 
eternity, 534. 

Scientific men, extracts from their 
writings showing their belief in 
fundamental religious and moral 
truths, 310. 

Schiapparelli, famous living Egyp- 
tologist, testifies to the religious 
and ethical belief of the ancient 
Egyptians, 283. 

Sherman, professor in the Univer- 
sity of Chicago, his misleading 
and erroneous exegesis exposed 
and refuted, 712, 713. 

Shinn, Rev. Wolfe, unjust toward 
the Catholic Church, 719. 

Spencer, Herbert, what became of 
his philosophy, 356, 395. 

Soul, the human, its nature and 
simplicity, 192; its spirituality 
and immortality proved from rea- 
son, 200-243 ; neither the souls 
of the just nor those of the 
wicked wish to be reunited with 
a corruptible body, 364; but the 
souls of the blessed yearn after 
the promised reunion with their 
risen incorruptible and glorified 



bodies, 366; man's soul differs 
specifically from the angelic spir- 
its, 366; when separated from the 
body does not find itself in a 
violent restraining condition, 367. 

Solitude in hell most painful. 
Why? 456. 

Steindorff, Professor, testifies to the 
belief of Egyptians in a life to 
come, 284. 

Strabo, one of the oldest historians 
and geographers, his testimony 
about the religious and moral be- 
liefs of ancient nations, 523. 



Temporary hell contrary to and dis- 
proved by God's infinite hatred of 
sin, 543 ; an insufficient deterrent 
from sin, 546, 623, 624. 

Testament, the New, twenty-six, out 
of the twenty-seven books com- 
posing it, teach the doctrine of 
immortality, or its equivalent, the 
future life of human creatures, 
256-260. 

Texts of John vi. 40, 44, 50, 52, 
55, 59, explained as referring to 
the risen bodies' immortal and 
glorious life, not to the preserva- 
tion from death in the present 
world, 396. 

Theories, modern, devised to replace 
the Christian dogma of endless 
sufferings for the wicked, 556. 

Theologians and other Catholic 
writers on sacred subjects from 
a. d. 1109 to our times, number- 
ing 12,208, teach the Christian 
doctrine of endless retribution, 
512. 

Thirst, its torments in hell, ac- 
cording to Holy Writ, 453. 

Time, its supreme value for secur- 
ing a happy eternity, 153. 

Tradition, primitive, 477; what it 
contains and whence it comes, 
519; what it accounts for, 477; 
it cannot consistently be ap- 
pealed to by Protestants, as they 
reject it as a itness of truth, 
565. 

Trial, earthly, its paramount im- 
portance as the means for secur- 
ing heavenly bliss, 150. 

Typical characters, their extremely 
dangerous state, 459, 460. 



562 



Alphabetical Index 



U 



Unbaptized children, their state or 
condition in the next world, 409- 
414, 416, 417, 418, 422. 

Unbelievers, their attempted solu- 
tion of the problem of life, 30, 
31 ; their theory about the future 
world, 44. 

Unbroken chain, an, of witnesses 
to the belief in endless punish- 
ment found only in the Catholic 
Church, 719, 720. 



Vatican Council (a. d. 1870), mat- 
ters prepared, as schemata, pro- 
grams, but not discussed on 
account of its prorogation, 
which refer to some of our sub- 
jects, 552. 

Viaticum, St. Thomas tells why 
holy communion is especially so 
called, 266. 

Vision of God, the beatific vision, 



is the essential constituent of 
heavenly happiness, 134; what it 
implies and reveals, 316. 

W 

Wealth, however abundant, cannot 
cause real happiness, 85. 

Weeping in hell, according to the 
Bible, 454. 

Westminster Confession, the, it 
adopted Calvin's hideous doc- 
trine on predestination by God's 
decree independently of man's 
merits or demerits, 680; it ad- 
mits eternal retribution, 679. 

Will of God, antecedent and conse- 
quent, defined, 559. 

World, the future, only there full 
justice shall reward the good 
and punish the wicked, 222. 

Worm, the undying worm in Mark 
(ix, 43, 45, 47), explained, 445, 
455. 

Writers, some modern, their idea of 
human life, 98. 



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SHORT COURSE IN CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. Paper, 10 

SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY. Slater. net. 50 

SHORT LIVES OF THE SAINTS. Donnelly. 60 

SHORT MEDITATIONS FOR EVERY DAY. Lasausse. 50 

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SPECIAL INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF THE OLD 

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SPIRAGO'S METHOD OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. Messmer. net, 1 50 
SPIRIT OF SACRIFICE, THE, AND THE LIFE OF SACRIFICE 

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SPOILING THE DIVINE FEAST. Zulueta, S.J. Paper, 07 

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STORY OF JESUS SIMPLY TOLD FOR THE YOUNG. Mul- 

holland. 60 

STORY OF THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. Lynch, S.J. net, 1 75 



35 
35 
35 


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STORY OF THE DIVINE CHILD. Lings. 
STORY OF THE FRIENDS OF JESUS. Religious H. C. J. 
STORIES OF THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. Religious H. C. J. 
SUNDAY MISSAL, THE. Lasance. Imitation leather, 0.75; Ameri- 
can seal, 
SUNDAY-SCHOOL DIRECTOR'S GUIDE. Sloan. 
SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHER'S GUIDE. Sloan. 
SURE WAY TO A HAPPY MARRIAGE. Taylor. 
TALKS WITH THE LITTLE ONES ABOUT THE APOSTLES' 

CREED. Religious H. C. J. 35 
THOUGHTS AND AFFECTIONS ON THE PASSION OF JESUS 

CHRIST FOR EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR. Bergamo, O.M.Cap. net, 2 00 
THOUGHTS AND COUNSELS FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF 

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TRAINING OF CHILDREN AND OF GIRLS IN THEIR TEENS. 

Madame Cecilia. Paper, 0.25; Cloth, 60 

TRUE POLITENESS. Demore. net, 75 
TRUE SPOUSE OF CHRIST. St. Alphonsus Liguori. 1 vol. edition, 50 

2 volume edition, net, 3 00 

TWO SPIRITUAL RETREATS FOR SISTERS. Zollner-Wirth. net, 1 00 

VENERATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN. Rohner-Brennan. 50 

VICTORIES OF THE MARTYRS. St. Alphonsus Liguori. net, 1 50 

VIGIL HOUR. Ryan, S.J. Paper, 10 

VISITS TO JESUS IN THE TABERNACLE. Lasance. 1 25 
VISITS TO THE MOST HOLY SACRAMENT. St. Alphonsus 

Liguori. 35 

VOCATION. Van Tricht-Conniff. Paper, 07 

VOCATIONS EXPLAINED. Cloth, 10 

WAY OF INTERIOR PEACE. De Lehen, S.J. net, 1 50 
WAY OF SALVATION AND OF PERFECTION. St. Alphonsus 

Ligouri. net, 1 50 

WAY OF THE CROSS. Illustrated. Paper, 05 
WAY OF THE CROSS, THE. Large-type edition. Method of St. 

Alphonsus Liguori. Illustrated. 15 

WAY OF THE CROSS. Illustrated. Eucharistic method. 15 

WAY OF THE CROSS. By a Jesuit Father. Illustrated. 15 

WAY OF THE CROSS. St. Francis of Assisi. Illustrated. 15 

WAY OF THE CROSS. Illustrated. St. Alphonsus Liguori. 15 

WHAT CATHOLICS HAVE DONE FOR SCIENCE. Brennan. net, 1 25 

WHAT THE CHURCH TEACHES. Drury. Paper, 0.30; Cloth, 60 
WHAT TIMES! WHAT MORALS! Semple, S.J. Paper, 0.20; Cloth, 50 

WITH CHRIST, MY FRIEND. Sloan. net, 75 

WITH GOD. Lasance. Imitation leather, 1.25; American Seal, 2 00 

WOMEN OF CATHOLICITY. Sadlier. 50 

YOUNG MAN'S GUIDE. Lasance. Imitation leather, 75 

NOVELS 

AGATHA'S HARD SAYING. Mulholland. 1 00 

BACK TO THE WORLD. Champol. net, 1 35 

BALLADS OF CHILDHOOD. Earls, S.J. net, 1 00 

BLACK BROTHERHOOD, THE. Garrold, S.J. net, 1 35 

BOND AND FREE. Connor. 50 

"BUT THY LOVE AND THY GRACE." Finn, S.J. 1 00 

BY THE BLUE RIVER. Clarke. net, 1 35 

CARROLL DARE. Waggaman. 1 25 

CATTLE TRAIL OF THE PRAIRIES. 50 

CIRCUS-RIDER'S DAUGHTER. Brackel. 50 

CLIMBING THE ALPS. 50 

CONNOR D'ARCY'S STRUGGLES. Bertholds. 50 

CORINNE'S VOW. Waggaman. 1 25 

DAUGHTER OF KINGS, A. Hinkson. 1 25 

DION AND THE SIBYLS. Keon. 50 

DOUBLE KNOT, A, AND OTHER STORIES. 50 

ELDER MISS AINSBOROUGH. Taggart. 1 25 

ESQUIMAUX. THE. 50 

FABIOLA. Wiseman. 50 

FABIOLA'S SISTERS. Clarke. 50 

FATAL BEACON, THE. Brackel. 1 25 

FAUSTULA. Ayscough. net, 1 35 

FINE CLAY. Clarke. net, 1 35 

FLOWERS OF THE CLOISTER. La Motte. 1 25 

FORGIVE AND FORGET. Lingen. 50 

FRIENDLY LITTLE HOUSE, THE, AND OTHER STORIES. 50 

FURS AND FUR HUNTERS. 50 

GRAPES OF THORNS. Waggaman. net, 1 25 

HANDLING MAIL FOR MILLIONS. 50 

HEART OF A MAN. THE. Maher. net, 1 35 

5 



HEARTS OF GOLD. Edhor. 

HEIRESS OF CRONENSTEIN. Hahn-Hahn. 

HER BLIND FOLLY. Holt. 

HER FATHER'S DAUGHTER. Hinkson. 

HER FATHER'S SHARE. Power. 

HER JOURNEY'S END. Cooke. 

IDOLS; OR THE SECRET OF THE RUE CHAUSSEE D'ANTIN 
Navery. 

IN GOD'S GOOD TIME. Ross. 

IN THE DAYS OF KING HAL. Taggart. 

IVY HEDGE, THE. Egan. 

KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS. Harrison. 

LADY OF THE TOWER, THE, AND OTHER STORIES. 

LIFE UNDERGROUND. 

LIGHT OF HIS COUNTENANCE. Harte. 

"LIKE UNTO A MERCHANT." Gray. 

LINKED LIVES. Douglas. 

LITTLE CARDINAL, THE. Parr. 

MARCELLA GRACE. Mulholland. 

MARIAE COROLLA. (Poems.) Hill, C.P. 

MARIE OF THE HOUSE D'ANTERS. Earls, S.J. 

MELCHIOR OF BOSTON. Earls, S.J. 

MIGHTY FRIEND, THE. L'Ermite. 

MIRROR OF SHALOTT. Benson. 

MISS ERIN. Francis. 

MONK'S PARDON, THE. Navery. 

MR. BILLY BUTTONS. Lecky. 

MY LADY BEATRICE. Cooke. 

NOT A JUDGMENT. Keon. 

ON PATROL WITH A BOUNDARY RIDER. 

ONLY ANNE. Clarke. 

OTHER MISS LISLE, THE. Martin. 

OUT OF BONDAGE. Holt. 

OUTLAW OF CAMARGUE. Lamothe. 

PASSING SHADOWS. Yorke. 

PAT. Hinkson. 

PERE MONNIER'S WARD. Lecky. 

PILKINGTON HEIR. THE. Sadlier. 

PRISONERS' YEARS. Clarke. 

PRODIGAL'S DAUGHTER, THE. Bugg. 

PROPHET'S WIFE, THE. Browne. 

RED INN OF ST. LYPHAR. Sadlier. 

REST HOUSE, THE. Clarke. 

ROAD BEYOND THE TOWN, AND OTHER POEMS. Earls, S.T. 

ROSE OF THE WORLD. Martin. 

ROUND TABLE OF AMERICAN CATHOLIC NOVELISTS. 

ROUND TABLE OF FRENCH CATHOLIC NOVELISTS. 

ROUND TABLE OF GERMAN CATHOLIC NOVELISTS. 

ROUND TABLE OF IRISH AND ENGLISH CATHOLIC NOVEL- 
ISTS. 

RULER OF THE KINGDOM, THE. Keon. 

SECRET CITADEL, THE. Clarke. 

SECRET OF THE GREEN VASE. Cooke. 

SENIOR LIEUTENANT'S WAGER, THE, AND OTHER STORIES 

SHADOW OF EVERSLEIGH, THE. Lansdowne. 

SHIELD OF SILENCE, THE. Henry-Ruffin. 

SO AS BY FIRE. Connor. 

SOGGARTH AROON, THE. Guinan. 

SON OF SIRO. Copus, S.J. 

STORY OF CECILIA. Hinkson. 

STREET SCENES IN DIFFERENT LANDS. 

STUORE. (Stories.) Earls, SJ. 

TEMPEST OF THE HEART, THE. Gray. 

TEST OF COURAGE. THE. Ross. 

THAT MAN'S DAUGHTER. Ross. 

THEIR CHOICE. Skinner. 

THROUGH THE DESERT. Sienkiewicz. 

TRAIL OF THE DRAGON, THE, AND OTHER STORIES. 

TRAINING OF SILAS. Devine. 

TRUE STORY OF MASTER GERARD. Sadlier. 

TURN OF THE TIDE. Gray. 

UNBIDDEN GUEST, THE. Cooke. 

UNDER THE CEDARS AND THE STARS. Sheehan. 

UNRAVELLING OF A TANGLE. Taggart. 

UP IN ARDMUIRLAND. Barrett, O.S.B. 

VOCATION OF EDWARD CONWAY. Egan. 

WARGRAVE TRUST, THE. Reid. 

WAY THAT LED BEYOND, THE. Harrison. 

WEDDING BELLS OF GLENDALOUGH. Earls, S.J. 

WEST AND THE GREAT PETRIFIED FOREST, THE. 

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WHEN LOVE IS STRONG. Keon. 
WINNING OF THE NEW WEST, THE. 
WOMAN OF FORTUNE. Reid. 

JUVENILES 
ADVENTURE WITH THE APACHES. FERRY. 

ALTHEA. NlRDLINGER. 

AS GOLD IN THE FURNACE. Copus. 

AS TRUE AS GOLD. Mannix. 

BELL FOUNDRY. Schaching. 

BERKLEYS, THE. Wight. 

BEST FOOT FORWARD, THE. Finn. 

BETWEEN FRIENDS. Aumerle. 

BISTOURI. Melandri. 

BLISSLYVANIA POST-OFFICE, THE. Taggart. 

BOB O'LINK. Waggaman. 

BROWNIE AND I. Aumerle. 

BUNT AND BILL. Mulholland. 

BY BRANSCOME RIVER. Taggart. 

CAMP BY COPPER RIVER. Spalding. 

CAPTAIN TED. Waggaman 

CAVE BY THE BEECH FORK. Spaldino. 

CHARLIE CHITTYWICK. Bearne. 

CHILDREN OF CUPA. Mannix. 

CHILDREN OF THE LOG CABIN. Delamare. 

CLARE LORAINE. "Lee." 

CLAUDE LIGHTFOOT. Finn. 

COLLEGE BOY, A. Yorke. 

CUPA REVISITED. Mannix. 

CUPID OF CAMPION. Finn. 

DADDY DAN. Waggaman. 

DEAR FRIENDS. Nirdlinger. 

DIMPLING'S SUCCESS. Mulholland. 

ETHELRED PRESTON. Finn. 

EVERYDAY GIRL, AN. Crowley. 

FAIRY OF THE SNOWS, THE. Finn. 

FIVE BIRDS IN A NEST. Delamare. 

FIVE O'CLOCK STORIES. 

FLOWER OF THE FLOCK, THE. Egan. 

FOR THE WHITE ROSE. Hinkson. 

FRED'S LITTLE DAUGHTER. Smith. 

FREDDY CARR'S ADVENTURES. Garrold. 

FREDDY CARR AND HIS FRIENDS. Garrold. 

GOLDEN LILY, THE. Hinkson. 

GREAT CAPTAIN, THE. Hinkson. 

GUILD BOYS' PLAY AT RIDINGDALE. Bearne. 

HALDEMAN CHILDREN, THE. Mannix. 

HARMONY FLATS. Whttmire. 

HARRY DEE. Finn. 

HARRY RUSSELL. Copus. 

HEIR OF DREAMS, AN. O'Malley. 

HIS FIRST AND LAST APPEARANCE. Finn. 

HOSTAGE OF WAR, A. Bonesteel. 

HOW THEY WORKED THEIR WAY. Egan. 

IN QUEST OF ADVENTURE. Mannix. 

IN QUEST OF THE GOLDEN CHEST. Barton. 

JACK. Religious H. C. J. 

JACK HILDRETH ON THE NILE. Taggart. 

JACK-O'-LANTERN. Waggaman. 

JUNIORS OF ST. BEDE'S. Bryson. 

JUVENILE ROUND TABLE. First Series, Second Series, Third 

Series, Each, 
KLONDIKE PICNIC, A. Donnelly. 

LEGENDS AND STORIES OF THE HOLY CHILD JESUS. Lutz. 
LITTLE APOSTLE ON CRUTCHES. Delamare. 
LITTLE GIRL FROM BACK EAST. Roberts. 
LITTLE LADY OF THE HALL. Ryeman. 
LITTLE MARSHALLS AT THE LAKE. Nixon-Roulet. 
LITTLE MISSY. Waggaman. 

LOYAL BLUE AND ROYAL SCARLET. Taggart. 
MAD KNIGHT, THE. Schaching. 
MADCAP SET AT ST. ANNE'S. Brunowe. 
MAKING OF MORTLAKE. Copus. 
MARKS OF THE BEAR CLAWS. Spalding. 
MARY TRACY'S FORTUNE. Sadlier. 
MELOR OF THE SILVER HAND. Bearne. 
MILLY AVELING. Smith. 
MIRALDA. Johnston. 
MORE FIVE O'CLOCK STORIES. 

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75 



MOSTLY BOYS. Finn. 1 00 

MYSTERIOUS DOORWAY. Sadlier. 35 

MYSTERY OF CLEVERLY. Barton. 50 

MYSTERY OF HORNBY HALL. Sadlier. 50 

NAN NOBODY. Waggaman. 35 

NED RIEDER. Wehs. 50 

NEW BOYS AT RIDINGDALE. Bearne. 1 00 

NEW SCHOLAR AT ST. ANNE'S. Brunowe. 50 

OLD CHARLMONT'S SEED-BED. Smith. 35 

OLD MILL ON THE WITHROSE. Spalding. 1 00 

ON THE OLD CAMPING GROUND. Mannix. 1 00 

OUR LADY'S LUTENIST. Bearne. 1 00 

PANCHO AND PANCHITA. Mannix. 35 

PAULINE ARCHER. Sadlier. 35 

PERCY WYNN. Finn. 1 00 

PERIL OF DIONYSIO, THE. Mannix. 35 

PETRONILLA, AND OTHER STORIES. Donnelly. 50 

PICKLE AND PEPPER. Dorsey. 1 00 

PILGRIM FROM IRELAND. Carnot. 35 

PLAYWATER PLOT, THE. Waggaman. 50 

POLLY DAY'S ISLAND. Roberts. 1 00 

POVERINA. Buckenham. 50 

QUEEN'S PAGE, THE. Hinkson. 35 

QUEEN'S PROMISE, THE. Waggaman. 50 

QUEST OF MARY SELWYN. Clementia. 1 00 

RACE FOR COPPER ISLAND. Spalding. 1 00 

RECRUIT TOMMY COLLINS. Bonesteel. 35 

RIDINGDALE FLOWER SHOW. Bearne. 1 00 

ROMANCE OF THE SILVER SHOON. Bearne. 1 00 

ST. CUTHBERT'S. Copus. 1 00 

SANDY JOE. Waggaman. 1 00 

SEA-GULL'S ROCK. Sandeau. 35 

SEVEN LITTLE MARSHALLS. Nixon-Roulet. 35 

SHADOWS LIFTED. Copus. 1 00 

SHEER PLUCK. Bearne. 1 00 

SHERIFF OF THE BEECH FORK. Spalding. 1 00 

SHIPMATES. Waggaman. 50 

STRONG-ARM OF AVALON. Waggaman. 1 00 

SUGAR CAMP AND AFTER. Spalding. 1 00 

SUMMER AT WOODVILLE, A. Sadlier. 35 

TALES AND LEGENDS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. Capella. 75 

TALISMAN, THE. Sadlier. 50 

TAMING OF POLLY, THE. Dorsey. 1 00 

THAT FOOTBALL GAME. Finn. 1 00 

THAT OFFICE BOY. Finn. 1 00 

THREE LITTLE GIRLS, AND ESPECIALLY ONE. Taggart. 35 

TOLD IN THE TWILIGHT. Salome. 50 

TOM LOSELY: BOY. Copus. 1 00 

TOM PLAYFAIR. Finn. 1 00 

TOM'S LUCK-POT. Waggaman. 35 

TOORALLADDY. By Julia C. Walsh. 35 

TRANSPLANTING OF TESSIE. Waggaman. 50 

TREASURE OF NUGGET MOUNTAIN. Taggart. 50 

TWO LITTLE GIRLS. Mack. 35 

UNCLE FRANK'S MARY. Clementia. 1 00 

UPS AND DOWNS OF MARJORIE. Waggaman. 35 

VIOLIN MAKER, THE. Adapted by Sara Trainer Smith. 35 

WAYWARD WINIFRED. Sadlier. 1 00 

WINNETOU, THE APACHE KNIGHT. Taggart. 50 

WITCH OF RIDINGDALE. Bearne. 1 00 

YOUNG COLOR GUARD. Bonesteel. 35 



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